Sufferers of a chronic pain condition are being left in agony because of a ‘cruel’ ban on drugs by NHS chiefs, campaigners have claimed.
Fibromyalgia patients – who endure body-wide pain, muscle stiffness and headaches – had been offered powerful painkillers, including pregabalin and tramadol. But recent guidance on the management of chronic pain by NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has prohibited their use.
Patients are also being denied NHS-approved non-drug therapies that are proven to work, including a water-based treatment called hydrotherapy, as local health chiefs won’t fund it, claims Des Quinn, chair of Fibromyalgia Action UK.
He claims that a change in NHS rules regarding painkillers is a ‘major step backwards in the treatment of fibromyalgia’.
