• Dr Jonathan Rajan, Consultant in Pain Medicine and Anaesthesia, Salford Royal NHS Trust
• Dr Katharine Ireland, Pain Medicine Trainee, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr Victoria Winter, Pain Medicine Trainee, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
• Dr Helen Makins, Consultant in Pain Medicine and Anaesthesia, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Multiple reports have highlighted the importance of workplace wellbeing. Institutions that prioritise workplace wellbeing perform better, with improved patient experience, higher staff satisfaction and lower rates of sickness absence.

38% of NHS staff in England reported suffering from work-related stress, and the 2023 GMC Survey showed the proportion of trainees at risk of burnout to be the highest since they started tracking this in 2018. The impact of a career in pain medicine on the wellbeing of a pain physician can be significant, including the emotional burden of treating patients in distress, and the additional impacts of training, career development and examinations. Access to wellbeing support can be further nuanced in smaller subspecialties, with fewer trainees, less potential jobs and a far smaller community of working clinical practice.

With this in mind the issue was raised at the FPM Board, and work began to identify barriers to the reporting of uncivilised behaviour, and to identify possible solutions.