Medical Matters: The future of hospitals?

During the past 18-months the Pain Rehabilitation Team and Digital Futures at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT) have worked with around 50 patients, all with differing physical challenges resulting from chronic pain, or suffering with severe anxiety.

The Summer showcase promotes patient co-production to trial a range of VR software applications to assess their benefit with the hope of finding alternative solutions to treat and combat chronic pain conditions.

We are the only NHS Trust in the country who are using CUREO VR therapy software to offer patients an alternative solution to chronic pain rehabilitation.

My team and I run one-to-one VR clinics with patients and have found some incredible results and benefits to health, including alternatives to medicated pain relief, and how new technology can help patients suffering from chronic pain.

Using principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) we are able to use the VR software to help people work in environments where they feel safe and protected. Distraction and immersive experiences help patients explore and learn skills to regulate how they move, and change how they work with their pain, enabling their pain to be more in the background.

This is only possible thanks to the generosity of Torbay Hospital League of Friends that donated in the region of £28,000 that allowed us to purchase the headsets plus software licensing which has seen this vital service evaluation and research work take place.

To help celebrate and spread the word of this work, we have held a summer showcase allowing us to meet with former patients and to speak with the public. 

At our event in July at the exhibition space in Torbay Hospital we showcased CUREO VR and was a huge success. Our next event is due to take place in August as the team showcase nature VR immersion, Soulpaint which is a multi-award winning virtual reality experience backed by behavioural scientists and researchers, and ROHKEA VR.

Some of the success stories have been amazing; we have seen remarkable improvements in people who had severe limitations to their range of movements, and even one person who has finally been able to gain new skills and improvements in his health resulting in him no longer being on pain medication. 

And it’s not just patients with chronic pain who are seeing the benefit of immersive technology; we have patients with long-term health conditions, anxiety and low moods making huge positive strides thanks to this new and innovative form of treatment.

If you live in Torbay and South Devon, you can self-refer and have a conversation with the team to see if this form of treatment could help you. 

If you have a longstanding chronic pain issue, or suffer with anxiety or low moods and would like to find out if we can help, please contact the ReConnect2Life Team via email on tsdft.reconnect2life@nhs.net.

The team are also currently undertaking a 12-week trial with ROHKEA VR which is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy and movement therapy that helps patients engage more with meaningful activities despite chronic pain. This is taking place with patients who are using VR headsets and ROHKEA software to manage their pain differently, using headsets at home.

You can also find out further details on our website: https://www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/services/pain-service/reconnect2life/