Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
Painful instructions
Chronic-pain patients are worried about new guidelines that are re-categorising their conditions and potentially limiting their access to vital treatments, reports RUTH HUNT

FOR those who suffer from untreated chronic pain it can make every minute and every hour a herculean task to get through. It can trap them inside, isolated and often in bed.

So, when effective pain relief is found, which enables the person to break free from the bedroom-cell, it’s not surprising the thought of it being removed causes anguish.

That explains why there is so much consternation about the recent intervention by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) regarding how the NHS should treat chronic pain, in particular pain that has an unclear cause.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Features / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
PROFESSOR LINDA GASK spoke to Ruth Hunt from her home in Orkney about her new book, Out of Her Mind: How We Are Failing Women’s Mental Health and What Must Change
Fiction / 10 August 2023
10 August 2023
RUTH F HUNT recommends a collection of short stories that transform poverty into something that’s often tender and profound
Opinion / 8 March 2022
8 March 2022
Could the overstretched system for mental health service users be supplemented by day centres? RUTH HUNT considers the options
Features / 28 May 2021
28 May 2021
As concerns are being expressed about police involvement in drawing up and delivering mental health crisis plans, RUTH HUNT looks at the troubling facts
Similar stories
Features / 14 October 2024
14 October 2024
PROFESSOR LINDA GASK spoke to Ruth Hunt from her home in Orkney about her new book, Out of Her Mind: How We Are Failing Women’s Mental Health and What Must Change
Britain / 20 August 2024
20 August 2024
Features / 19 January 2024
19 January 2024
RUTH HUNT looks at the risks of remote appointments for patients with long-term spinal cord injuries, who have substantial clinical needs