What's new?
Overall ethos
The pathway is a locally agreed consensus amongst all back pain specialists in Sheffield - from primary care, therapy teams and secondary care.
It aims to deliver the same high quality service across the city, with good access for all GPs and patients to multi-disciplinary care.
It highlights the key aspects of care that should be delivered in primary care, and through the tools on this website, facilitates the process.
It highlights the timescales and triggers for referral to a multi-disciplinary back pain specialist team.
It highlights the timescales and triggers for referral to secondary care.
Specific areas of change:
Low Back Pain
- Chronic back pain sufferers should be directed away from acute services.
- Tools are available for expert and consistent patient advice
- Tools are available for assessing Yellow flags (predictors of chronicity)
Nerve root pain (sciatica)
- Direct assess to MRI scans for Back pain teams, without need for secondary care referral
- MDT meeting with MRI results- back pain team/chronic pain/surgeons (this should reduce referrals of patients that would never fit criteria for surgery)
What's out?
- Long waits for more intensive input- no need to refer early to get ahead of wait, or feel that no real access to service
- Isolated physiotherapist treatment for back/ leg pain
- Direct referral to orthopaedics for nerve root/ low back pain
What has stayed the same?
- Emergency admission for Cauda Equina /Cord compression/ Acute infection
- Urgent admission/ 2 weeks for red flag symptoms of cancer
- Inflammatory back conditions - Rheumatoid/ ank spond- refer to Rheumatology