Nurses at a Suffolk hospital will learn how to use hypnotherapy to help relieve patients in chronic pain.

The pain clinic at West Suffolk Hospital has received a £1,700 donation from charity ‘a way with pain’ to enhance its services.

The cash will help train three nurses in hypnotherapy techniques and relaxation, and enable the purchase of a recliner chair for patients to use while having treatment.

West Suffolk Hospital, which is rated ‘outstanding’, is one of the few hospitals in the UK to offer an inpatient pain service across wards led by specialist nurses.

The trust also runs an outpatient pain clinic.

Dawn Pretty, lead clinical nurse specialist in the department of pain medicine at the trust, said patients would be also shown how to use the techniques at home to self-manage their pain.

She added: “We help patients who need assistance with managing the pain they are experiencing. Hypnotherapy and relaxation are very effective and safe strategies, and are just a sample of the holistic strategies we use to help patients with their own self-management of pain.

“Not only will our nurses use the techniques to relax patients who may be distressed by their pain or anxious on the wards, but we can share the techniques with patients themselves. Patients can then use these techniques at home to alleviate their symptoms.

“We believe that everyone living with chronic pain has the right to the best education, advice and treatment available. Long-term chronic pain cannot always be cured, however, pain can be made easier to manage by developing knowledge and expertise in self-management.”

David Kelly, co-founder of ‘a way with pain’, said he was “delighted” to hand over the cheque to West Suffolk Hospital

He added: “Hypnotherapy sessions are so important as they can be such a relief to those affected by chronic pain.”