The Northumberland Joint Musculoskeletal and Pain Service supports patients in Northumberland with musculoskeletal conditions or persistent pain. It is a partnership between Northumbria Healthcare and Connect Health.

If you are experiencing musculoskeletal aches and pains or persistent pain, the Northumberland Joint Musculoskeletal and Pain Service (JMAPS) can help you manage your condition.

Specialist staff including musculoskeletal physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, specialist nurses and rehabilitation therapists can assess, advise and support you to manage your condition with the aim of improving your health and wellbeing.

This service is for patients aged 16 or over.

• You can self-refer into the service. Please call 03301 244 652. A member of our team will take your details and book you into a telephone assessment appointment with a chartered physiotherapist.

• Your GP will need to refer you into the service if you have a condition that requires specialist assessment or you have a persistent pain condition that requires assessment in the living well with pain service.

For patients with persistent pain, you will be offered advice and support on pain management and lifestyle choices.

If you have musculoskeletal aches and pains you might be given information to enable to you to manage your condition or you may require a face-to-face appointment with a physiotherapist or advanced physiotherapy practitioner.

Your care plan will vary depending on your condition but this may include self-care advice, exercise therapy (rehabilitation programmes), manual therapy, soft tissue and joint injection therapy and appropriate pain management strategies.

If you have a musculoskeletal condition you may not need to come in for an appointment but be provided with enough information over the phone.

If you do need a face-to-face appointment, for instance if you have persistent pain, this can be done at clinics in community hospital locations and health centres across Northumberland.

You will be given an appointment time and day to suit you and a choice of location that is nearest to you where possible.

Clinics will be held at:

If you need to re-arrange it or cancel your appointment please let us know at least 48 hours before your appointment. This allows us to offer it to someone else.

If you fail to attend an appointment without notifying the service then you will have 5 days to contact the service to rebook your appointment. If you fail to contact the service within 5 days following the missed appointment then this will result in discharge from the service. You will require a GP referral to re-access the service.

If you need to be referred from the Northumberland Joint Musculoskeletal and Pain Service to a specialist in a hospital, we will arrange this for you and discuss with you your preference of where you wish to be seen for your treatment.

If you need to get in touch regarding your care please contact us: 03301 244 652

More details are available in our patient information leaflet.

Self-care useful links

Neck pain
Mid-back pain
Lower back pain
Shoulder pain
Elbow pain
Wrist and hand pain
Hip pain
Knee pain
Foot and ankle
Persistent pain

Support for your wider wellbeing