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“Chronic pain patients feel let down” – UK’s first digital pain clinic joins Project Twenty21

The UK’s first fully digital pain clinic is giving millions of patients another option

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Leva is the UK's first fully digital pain clinic

The UK’s first fully digital pain clinic is offering another option for the millions of patients who live with chronic pain and have lost hope in conventional healthcare.

Since it launched this year, the doctors at Leva Clinic have seen dozens of patients living with debilitating chronic pain, who are desperate to find a way to control their condition.

Having reached the end of the line in terms of what treatment is available on the NHS, many feel let down by conventional medicine and have lost all hope in ever successfully managing their pain. 

“Patients with chronic pain are often left to cope on their own, they often don’t benefit from the kind of support that they need,” says Dr Benjamin Viaris de Lesegno, chief medical officer and co-founder of Leva.

“Due to the complexity of their conditions and the underfunding of the NHS, a lot of patients with chronic pain feel that they’ve been let down. 

“Once you’ve reached the end of what the NHS defines as the chronic pain pathway, there’s nothing left for those patients. 

“These are patients who have lost all hope.”

In the UK, chronic or persistent pain – defined as pain that lasts for more than three months – is thought to affect between one third and half of the population.

Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) now advise doctors against the prescribing of common painkillers, including paracetamol and opioids, for patients with chronic primary pain conditions.

Instead regulators recommend interventions such as exercise programmes and psychological therapies such as CBT and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). 

This has left many patients either looking for alternative options – or living in fear of being left without any pain medication at all. 

Leva aims to “hold the hands” of these patients as its team of specialists work with them to find the right treatment.

“Patients are constantly on the lookout for new ways to control their pain, whether that’s diet and exercise or other ways to manage the symptoms that are making their life so difficult,” says Viaris de Lesegno.

Dr Benjamin Viaris de Lesegno, chief medical officer and co-founder of Leva.

“We’re really driven to try to support patients with chronic pain in every way possible.”

An increasingly popular alternative therapy among chronic pain patients is medical cannabis.

But due to what bodies such as NICE and the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) have described as a “lack of high quality evidence” for its efficacy in the treatment of chronic pain, access remains limited to private clinics in the UK.

Aware that private healthcare remains out of reach for many chronic pain patients, Leva has recently joined Drug Science’s Project Twenty21 in order to make its unique approach to care accessible to more people.

With around 50 percent of the patients currently enrolled on the project being treated for chronic pain, Viaris de Lesegno believes there is a need for a clinic which is specifically focused on pain management.

Unlike other cannabis clinics, Leva sees this as just one of the treatment options, offering a holistic approach to care through psychology, physiotherapy, digital tools and where suitable, novel therapeutics such as cannabis medicines.

“Pain is the biggest indication for medical cannabis around the world, not only in the UK,” he says.

“Medical cannabis is one of the options available for the doctor, but it shouldn’t be the only treatment option.

“A pain clinic that has the capacity to support patients in every way – and that includes psychology, physiotherapy and other pharmacological management – as well as medical cannabis, is the best way to help patients with chronic pain, even if for now, it is only available through the private market.”

Patients on Project Twenty21 will have free access to Leva’s digital pain management program, an app which can be used any time to offer advice and education on the self-management of their pain.

As well as an initial consultation and pharmacological management review, patients have the option to progress their treatment further with the multidisciplinary team, including a nurse, physiotherapist and a psychologist. 

And the fact that the clinic is fully digital means patients no longer face geographical barriers, giving them access to some of the UK’s most highly regarded specialists in the field.

“We definitely think of ourselves not as a medical cannabis clinic but as a pain clinic,” said Leva’s CEO, Eric Bystrom.

Leva CEO, Eric Bystrom

“We build a very long term relationship with our patients and be there at every point of their pain journey.

“You get your pain team from day one and together you create your bespoke care plan.”

As part of Project Twenty21 Bystrom and Viaris de Lesegno are keen to contribute to the creation of the UK’s largest body of evidence for the efficacy of medical cannabis.

They believe that this holistic approach to treatment is the way forward in opening up wider access to cannabis medicines. 

“A lot of doctors are suspicious of medical cannabis,” Viaris de Lesegno explains.

“If you go to a doctor with a ‘miracle drug’ that will treat everyone perfectly, no one will believe you. 

“Whereas if you say you have implemented medical cannabis within a dedicated care plan that includes psychology, physiotherapy and other pharmacological treatments, that sounds much more plausible to any clinician.”

It is also hoped that this approach will allow for more patients, who haven’t ever considered cannabis as an option to benefit from it. 

Head of communications, Project Twenty21, Mags Houston

Eric added: “To our knowledge, the medical cannabis market in the UK has so far been made up of patients who are highly knowledgeable and understand cannabis very well.

“With this approach we’re also aiming to treat those patients who have never even thought that medical cannabis could be something that helps them, to open up an avenue that they hadn’t even considered was available to them.”

This is something that those behind Project Twenty21 are also keen to see more of.

“A more holistic clinical model is something Drug Science is very much behind, as it opens up the pathways for patients who are ‘cannabis-naive’, in other words they have never tried cannabis before,” says the project’s head of communications, Mags Houston.

“We really hope that this approach will get the attention of those who haven’t previously considered medical cannabis.”

Houston continues: “Leva is giving the doctor the freedom to prescribe from a range of treatment options, not only medical cannabis. This way the doctor can do their job properly, by finding and recommending the best treatment option to suit that patient’s individual needs, and the patient can decide if it’s right for them.”

She adds: “We really want to see medical cannabis normalised as an option when choosing the best form of treatment, and this should hopefully encourage other doctors to come forward and to want to learn more about prescribing medical cannabis.”

Find out more about Project Twenty21

 

Sarah Sinclair is a respected cannabis journalist writing on subjects related to science, medicine, research, health and wellness. She is managing editor of Cannabis Health, the UK’s leading title covering medical cannabis and CBD, and sister titles, Cannabis Wealth and Psychedelic Health. Sarah has an NCTJ journalism qualification and an MA in Journalism from the University of Sunderland. Sarah has over six years experience working on newspapers, magazines and digital-first titles, the last two of which have been in the cannabis sector. She has also completed training through the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society securing a certificate in Medical Cannabis Explained. She is a member of PLEA’s (Patient-Led Engagement for Access) advisory board, has hosted several webinars on cannabis and women's health and has moderated at industry events such as Cannabis Europa. Sarah Sinclair is the editor of Cannabis Health. Got a story? Email sarah@handwmedia.co.uk / Follow us on Twitter: @CannabisHNews / Instagram: @cannabishealthmag

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