Aim: With no NICE guidelines, a Cochrane review that casts doubts on its usefulness and increasing pressure from clinical care commission groups to stop providing IV lidocaine service for chronic pain patients, the aim was to study the efficacy of IV lidocaine in this patient group
Method: A questionnaire with eight questions and boxes for comments were given to all patients who attended Calderdale Royal Hospital for their IV lidocaine infusion between October 2018 to February 2019.
Results: Seventy –four patients had IV lidocaine infusions in the study period with 69 (93%) questionnaires returned. Sixty-six patients answered all the questions in the questionnaire. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Reduction of pain by at least 30% was seen in 81% of the study group. The pain relief lasted for over 5 weeks in 65% of patients and 45% were able to reduce their regular analgesics. Improvement in sleep and mobility was evident from the comments received. Seventy percent said their quality of life improved and 87% would like to have the infusion again.
Conclusion: Larger studies or multicentre trials are required to assess if these results are applicable to the wider population. However, this study does show that with careful patient selection, IV lidocaine certainly has a role in managing a subgroup of patients with chronic pain.

SERVICE EVALUATION TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF INTRAVENOUS LIDOCAINE INFUSIONS IN CHRONIC PAIN PATIENTS