Written question asked by Lord Luce (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Earl Howe (Conservative) on Tuesday, 14 February 2012.

Health: Pain Management

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are taking steps to incorporate training in chronic pain management in the curricula of all healthcare professionals, following the recommendation in the Chief Medical Officer's 2008 annual report.

Answer: The content and standard of healthcare training is the responsibility of the independent regulatory bodies. Through their role as the custodians of quality standards in education and practice, these organisations are committed to ensuring that healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to deal with the problems and conditions they will encounter in practice, including where appropriate pain management. Once established, a key role of Health Education England will be to develop strong working relationships with the professions and the independent professional regulators in order to promote quality in education and training and responsiveness to innovation and changing service models. Training in the principles of pain management already form part of the pre-registration and postgraduate curricula of relevant health professionals. In the specific case of general medical practitioners, the possible need for some further initiative to improve skills in chronic pain management is being considered by the Royal College of General Practitioners as one of its current clinical priorities.

Secondary information