Acute Pain Teams in England: current provision and their role in postoperative pain management

This survey describes the current provision of multidisciplinary Acute Pain Teams (APTs) in acute English hospitals performing adult in-patient surgery (excluding maternity). Associations between the presence of an APT and a number of organizational and clinical initiatives for the management of postoperative pain are also explored. Postal questionnaires were sent to the Clinical Director of Anaesthetics or head of the APT at every acute English hospital providing separate anaesthetic services. After written and telephone reminders, the response rate was 86% (n = 226). Eighty-four per cent (n = 190) of respondents had an APT in their hospital. The presence of an APT was associated (P