St Vincent’s Hospital Pain Clinic provides pain assessment and management services and programs for people living with chronic pain. A referral is required from either your GP (valid for 12 months) or another medical specialist (valid for 3 months) to the pain clinic once investigations have been completed and acute medical issues have been addressed.
Referrals are to be sent electronically by GPs/medical specialists participating in eHealth and emailed to SVHS.ChronicPainService@svha.org.au.
Referrals need to include the following information: addressed to Prof Steven Faux, patient name, date of birth, address, phone number(s), email address, if an interpreter will be required, Medicare number, reason for referral, history of pain experience, current medications, relevant reports and where relevant Insurer approval. On receipt, the referral will be triaged and an appointment scheduled. An auto-generated text message will be sent to the patient (if they have a mobile phone), and a letter will be sent with the date and time. The GP/medical specialist practice will also be sent a confirmation where a telehealth consultation will take place for rural patients usually at the referring doctor’s practice.
The main clinic is held Fridays (except on public holidays)
The Physiotherapists and Psychologist also see some individual patients Monday-Thursday.
Group programs are run several times per year. These programs generally run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
An appointment for a telehealth consultation in the Pain Clinic is available for people who live in Southern NSW; including south of Batemans Bay to Eden, Cooma, Yass, Crookwell and Goulburn. A request for a review via telehealth can be made using the same referral criteria as above.
Appointments for telehealth consultations must be arranged in advance. The process for connecting will be outlined when the appointment is confirmed by the Pain Clinic
For enquiries please contact the St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney Pain Clinic via email: svhs.chronicpainservice@svha.org.au or phone: 02 8382 5240.
Once your appointment is confirmed you will be sent a questionnaire which we ask you to complete prior your appointment. Your answers will better assist the Pain Specialist and team members to understand how pain is impacting your life and the activities you enjoy.
Your first appointment will be with a Pain Specialist who will conduct a comprehensive assessment of your pain history. This will take approximately one hour. Your case history will then be presented at the clinic’s multidisciplinary team review to formulate your individualised pain management plan. A written report including the assessment findings and management plan will be forwarded to your referring doctor (this can take up to two weeks post consult).
The pain management plan will likely include a number of different strategies such as a referral to the: physiotherapist; psychologist; and/or pain management group program. Information on other resources such as books, websites and apps may be provided which can help to increase your understanding about pain and how to manage pain flare ups. Medication review and education on the appropriate use of medicines will also form an important part of any pain management plan. Follow up review with the Pain Specialist may also be advised.