External relations

The Council of the British Pain Society is active in promoting the interests of patients and professionals in the field of pain to a number of relevant national bodies on members’ behalf.

• The Society has been actively involved in setting up the new government initiative, The Chronic Pain Policy Coalition, which is a an umbrella organisation uniting patients, professionals and parliamentarians which will develop and help to implement a strategy for improving the prevention and treatment of chronic pain in the UK.
• The Society is a generic stakeholder for National Institute for Health and Clincial Excellence (NICE) guidelines. To see the Society's formal responses to NICE consultations, please visit 'For Members - Articles and Reports'
• The Society is a generic stakeholder for Interventional Procedures and Health Technology Assessment for NICE.
• The Society is an NCCHTA (National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment) Affiliate Organisation.
• The Society provided feedback to the Shipman Inquiry and is represented on two working parties
• The Society is represented on the Joint Committee on Good Practice, which is run jointly by the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.
• The Society has representation on the Founding Board of the Faculty of Pain Medicine and the Pain Management Committee of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and reciprocal representation on the Executive of the Association for Palliative Medicine.k
• The Society is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)
• The Society has produced a joint publication on 'Assessment of pain in the older person' with the British Geriatrics Society
• The Society has produced a joint publication on 'Spinal cord stimulation for the management of pain: recommendations for best clinical practice' with the Society of British Neurological Surgeons
• The Society has produced a joint publication on 'The use of drugs beyond licence in palliative care and pain management' with the Association for Palliative Medicine
• In conjunction with the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Pyschiatrists has produced a publication on 'Recommendations for the appropriate use of opioids for persistent non-cancer pain'.