Do I always need to be referred to the UPCM Outpatient Pain Clinic by a doctor?

  • All patients who are treated at the Outpatient Pain Clinic have been referred there by a general practitioner (GP) or medical specialist. Therefore,  you always have to be referred by your GP or the specialist who is treating you; without a referral, the clinic cannot accept you as a patient.
  • Your GP will normally hand you a letter of referral or have their secretary or receptionist make an appointment for you and send the letter of referral straight to UPCM. If you contact the reception desk at the UPCM Outpatient Pain Clinic by phone or in person, without a letter of referral, you will be asked to obtain such a letter from your GP or specialist first. This referral is important as it provides UPCM staff with the necessary information about your pain problem and the kind of treatment you may need. Therefore, we cannot treat you without referral.
  • You may already have had treatment at the UPCM Outpatient Pain Clinic for a particular problem, a treatment that was completed. If the same complaints for which you were treated at that time return within a year, you do not need a new referral from your GP or specialist; you can simply make a follow-up appointment at the clinic.
  • If your last treatment at the UPCM Outpatient Pain Clinic was more than a year ago, you will need  a new referral from your GP or specialist, even if it concerns the same problem for which you were treated  last time. This is necessary since your medical situation may have changed considerably during the course of a year. You will then be accepted as a new patient, so that we can allocate enough time to examine you thoroughly and begin the correct treatment.

Once we have received your letter of referral, we will mail you some questionnaires about your pain symptoms, which you should complete and return using the enclosed stamped addressed envelope. We cannot plan your first appointment at the UPCM Outpatient Pain Clinic until we have received the completed questionnaires.

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