Welcome to the Spinal Assessment Service
The Spinal Assessment Service is a specialised assessment service for people with persistent neck and back pain.
The Extended Scope Practitioner (ESP) will do an assessment, discuss the patient's needs for consideration of imaging if and when appropriate or referral to the pain team for further management and advice.
Investigations:
Once the patient has been assessed by an ESP, they might refer on for further investigations which could include X-rays, CT scan, MRI, or nerve conduction studies.
Patients will be explained the reasons for these tests, and a follow-up consultation might be booked for either a telephone conversation or one-to-one discussion after the tests to discuss further management.
Multidisciplinary Team meeting s (MDT) and secondary care (hospitals and specialists) referral:
Once patients have had investigations, ESPs will discuss with the patient to decide if they need to be referred to secondary care.
Appropriate patients will then be discussed in a MDT meeting consisting of a spinal surgeon, pain consultant and ESPs. The scans and tests will be reviewed, discussed and patients requiring secondary care will be referred to see a spinal surgeon or pain consultant in one of the local hospitals. If patients do not need secondary care, a proposed management plan will be discussed and referred back to GP.
The team of ESPs includes Barry Greenleaf, Shathish Kumar and Alex Mortimer.
If you have acute low back pain and/or any leg symptoms (being pain/pins and needles/weakness/or numbness) please view this important link regarding Cauda Equina Syndrome.
If you have a history of cancer, immunodeficiency or TB and have new, unexplained and constant pain then please speak to your GP whilst following any self-help advice.
Where is the service provided
The Spinal Assessment Service is provided at:
Primary Care Centre
Turner Road
Colchester
CO4 3GW Click here to view map
How to access the service
Referrals to this service can be carried out by GPs , physiotherapists and other manual therapists. Referrals are then triaged by ESPs and patients will be seen by one of the ESPs.