Meeting of the Parliament 16 November 2022
I send my regards and best wishes to my former colleague Dorothy-Grace Elder, who has campaigned without pause on the issue of chronic pain since at least 1999.
I will start on a personal note. Like more than 19 per cent of the Scottish population—I now suspect that that is an underestimate, although it is not the Scottish Government’s fault—I have chronic lower back pain. Some days it is worse than others, but it is always there and has been for some years now. Sitting at my computer during Covid made it worse—Finlay Carson referred to that issue—and one day my back simply froze and I had to take bed rest. I mentioned the matter to my GP and was told simply to take painkillers, which I do, and I carry them with me always. Like many, I self-medicate and, in fact, the painkillers have now become more essential than my reading glasses.
That is nothing compared to the level of pain that other people have day in and day out, but it has given me a taste of what it must be like to be in severe and constant pain without relief. You wake up and take for granted that there will be pain. It affects every aspect of moving, including walking and housework. Gardening, which is always a pleasure, takes its toll, and movement is restricted. You adapt to what you can and cannot do. Standing is painful, so even as I speak my back is painful. The pain affects personal relationships. Fortunately, now that I live the single life, only the cat has to hear the constant refrain, “Oh, my back!”
That said, it can also affect the family unit. Partners are sometimes supportive and sometimes impatient. Who wants to hear someone always complaining? We therefore need to have more spaces for those with chronic pain to talk to one another, knowing that those who are listening are in the same boat. It all helps, and it may take pressure off those who are living with people who have chronic pain.
For many people, the situation is far worse than it is for me. The key message—I note that the Scottish Government is approaching the issue in the right way—is that treatment, management and availability must be directed by the people who are suffering from chronic pain in all its varying forms. Any delivery must also be person focused, because each person suffers differently and handles pain differently, physically, mentally and emotionally. Of course, some people simply lose their employment. For them, there are financial consequences.
I note that training for NHS staff is to be increased, which I welcome. Actually, I would extend that to GPs and their staff. Some doctors’ receptionists, acting as gatekeepers, are not always sympathetic. Before I get a lot of emails about that, I point out that I said “some”.
In preparation for the debate, I had a look at online help. I have to say that, when I went on to the NHS 24 self-help guide, I found that it does not do what it says on the tin. After ticking the various boxes on the online questionnaire, it simply told me, “There’s nothing seriously wrong with your back.” Well, that was not any help.
A better website was the NHS self-management site, which has exercises to help with lower back pain. I confess that, until I prepared for this debate, I had not looked at that; I will try some of the exercises. However, if I did not know about it, a lot of the public will not be aware of it. I suggest a public information campaign to alert people such as me who have back pain to those exercises, which might just help—it is worth a try. In the meantime, I suggest to others that they try it.
I also want to focus on early intervention and to encourage those who are silent about their chronic pain to identify themselves. As we know, the adapting that I referred to might well lead to further deterioration in physical and mental wellbeing, because it passes the pain buck to other parts of the body, such as the legs and neck.
Although I welcome the plan, I want actual delivery on the ground. That is the test, at national and local level. I note the minister’s response to Jackie Baillie on resource allocation. It is in the interests of all—those who are suffering, many of whom do so in silence, their families and those who live with them, as well as society at large—that the issue is dealt with.
Plans are the easy bit; the test, of course, is whether we make life that bit easier for those with chronic pain, whatever the level, and I put myself at a very low level compared to others. I know that the minister recognises that point, but it will be the test.
16:04