Developing an integrated care pathway to manage cancer pain across primary, secondary and tertiary care

Throughout the palliative care journey, the patient encounters many different health professionals in a variety of settings so good channels of communication between these professionals is a prerequisite for successful continuity of care (Scottish Partnership Agency for Palliative and Cancer Care (SPA), 1994). Pain control has also long been documented as being ineffective and it has been indicated that pain affects up to 88% of cancer patients in the last year of their life (Addington-Hall and McCarthy, 1995). In order to attempt to resolve these important issues, a joint project was established between primary, secondary and tertiary care in the south sector of Glasgow to establish an integrated care pathway (ICP) for the management of chronic cancer pain. This article discusses how the joint project was successfully established, was instrumental in breaking down existing barriers across the traditional boundaries and developed a uniform system of assessing and managing chronic cancer pain with ICP documentation held in a patient-held record.