Pharmacist-led management of chronic pain in primary care: patient expectations, attitudes and concerns

Chronic pain affects approximately half the population. Recovery is rare and management often unsatisfactory. Most people are managed with prescribed analgesics, but suboptimal prescribing, imperfect monitoring of repeat prescriptions and concomitant use of nonprescription medicines means that treatment is often ineffective or inefficient. The aim of an ongoing small randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to compare pharmacist medication review of patients with chronic pain with recommended changes implemented by a general practitioner and with pharmacist prescribing for patients with chronic pain. The Medical Research Council framework for development and evaluation of complex interventions emphasises the importance of identifying key components of an intervention and the feasibility of delivery before undertaking the RCT. In line with this, focus groups were conducted to explore patients’ beliefs and concerns about the proposed service before finalising the intervention.