Expert Patient and Carer Committee (EPCC)

In November 2003, I had an accident at work and was eventually diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Due to a variety of reasons, I became a bilateral above knee amputee as a result of CRPS.

I founded a CRPS charity, Burning Nights CRPS Support which focuses on working to improve life for anyone affected by CRPS including raising awareness of the condition and supporting patients and their families. 

In June 2020 I was awarded an MBE for services to charity, as well as the Points of Light awarded by the Office of the Prime Minister in February 2020. Burning Nights CRPS Support also received Best Team Performance by WeGo Health in November 2019.

I joined The British Pain Society as the Patient Lead for the National Awareness Campaign in January 2020. I became Chair of The Patient Voice Committee in July 2020.

Tim Atkinson is Vice-Chair of the Patient Voice Committee as well as being a volunteer with the charity Pain Concern, a regular contributor to the Flippin' Pain community outreach campaign and a Lived Experience Trainer on the Live Well With Pain programme. He has suffered with inflammatory arthritis for over thirty years, leaving a legacy of joint damage and constant, daily pain which he increasingly self-manages. A writer, his memoir "Where Does it Hurt?" about life with chronic pain has won many plaudits, being described as a "a chronic pain-thriller-page-turner" by one reader and endorsed by Professor Lorimer Moseley "a book written by an expert... because the true experts when it comes to understanding the problem of persistent pain, its impact and potential solutions, are those challenged by pain who take on a journey of discovery."

Since retiring from the Army he has been greatly involved with the NHS and particularly so over the last 10 years following his Wife’s Stroke.  His involvement includes serving as a Governor of his local NHS Trust, working with Veterans’ Health and Hospital Charities, with the Ambulance Service and with their local GP and CCG.  He has relevant experience in Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Management as well as personal involvement with chronic pain and pain management and pain relief generally.

I am from New Zealand, where in 1998, a cricket injury left me with disc damage, resulting in long term pain. Over the last twenty plus years, I have learnt to adapt my lifestyle through pain management, an area I am passionate about.

I have lived in the UK since 2006. During that time, I have become highly active in pain management voluntary work. I am a patient volunteer with the North Bristol Pain Clinic, I have conducted many Pain Management Programmes alongside medical professionals, and I am an actively involved in furthering the use of the ‘lived experience’ across other pain clinics throughout the country.   

Activities:

• I have written an article published in Pain Matters on the challenges, wins and benefits of running Pain Management Programmes over zoom. This was part of the North Bristol Pain Clinic guest editorship of the magazine. 
• Member of the Bristol Chronic Pain HIT, as well as working with Jenny Steele (from Dorothy House, Bath) in the production of a video on ‘Living with Chronic Pain.’
• Member of the planning committee for the 2019 PMP SIG Conference held in Bristol in September 2019.
• Co-presented a workshop on use of the patient perspective being used in an SMP or PMP pain management courses at the conferences. 
• A member of the closing Q&A panel at the pain conference.
• Involved with Dr Michelle Farr and NIHR CLAHRC West in a study to test the effectiveness and outcomes of patient follow-on groups with different NHS organisations.

I am a Reader in Spanish philology and visual cultures at Cardiff University. My research includes a focus on disability and on pain and I have published work on these subjects in film, comics and literature from Spain, Latin America, and the UK. 

I became involved with the Patient Voice Committee through experience of prolonged pain connected with a skin condition. Underscoring the pain that can be associated with dermatological ailments is something I try to bring to the committee’s work. With support from the ESRC and the Welsh Government’s Innovation for All scheme I am leading a project, All is not Well, on care giving. 

Originally from the North East, Nick Richardson served for over 20 years as a Logistics Officer in the Royal Navy. Unfortunately, Nick has both chronic neuropathic pain as well as degenerative osteoarthritis, both as a result of two separate injuries that he sustained in service.  As a result of these injuries, Nick was medically discharged from the armed forces in 2012 - Coming to terms with this has been extremely challenging, and Nick fully understands the stress that living with chronic pain places on all elements of life.   

However, after excellent treatment from the NHS, along with the excellent supports that he received from a number of leading military charities (Help for Heroes and BLESMA), he has been able to come to terms with his injuries.  
Nick lives in Wiltshire and is married, with two grown up children.  He enjoys watching both Bath and England play rugby, and has a keen interest in military and industrial history.   

Emeritus Professor Sam H Ahmedzai BSc(Hons) MBChB FRCP FFPM

Sam is Emeritus Professor at University of Sheffield, with 30 years’ experience of being academic physician in palliative medicine, covering both acute hospital and hospice. 

Research interests – pain and symptom management; supportive care throughout cancer including survivors; quality of life and holistic needs assessments; patient and public involvement in research.

Sam was National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) national specialty lead for supportive care and community research and chaired the NIHR cancer & nutrition collaboration.

He has served as elected Council Member of the British Pain Society and chaired its Education Committee. He is Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine in the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

Sam is also a person living with chronic sciatica. He is a strong advocate for pain self-management through exercise and nutrition.

Dr Sarah Harrisson is a Lecturer in Applied Health Research the Centre for Primary Care Centre Versus Arthritis, School of Medicine at Keele University and an emerging research leader in chronic pain management with an interest in Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement. She has a record of co-producing approaches to broaden awareness and engagement in research of people living with chronic pain. She is a physiotherapist by background with extensive clinical expertise in musculoskeletal care and pain management. She was elected as council member of the British Pain Society in 2024.

Amirah has lived experience of pain since childhood. It took her over 15 years to get a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, finally gaining access to pain management support through various Health Care Professionals. Having an ‘invisible illness’, Amirah has found that the impact of chronic pain on quality of life is often misunderstood and minimised. Amirah wants to share her lived experience, ensuring that Health Care Professionals can emphasise and understand daily challenges of those living with pain. Amirah has worked in Market Research for over 10 years and will be using her knowledge to make the most of the ‘Lived Experience Collective’ – a panel of patients and carers that are on hand to support the BPS with various tasks and projects.

Fiona lived with severe chronic back and leg pain for 25 years following a fall from a horse. She had diagnoses from CRPS to Fibromyalgia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and tried a variety of treatments including inpatient pain management programmes, facet joint denervation and nerve blocks. The pain affected her ability to study, work and enjoy life.  In late 2018, she used Pain Reprocessing Therapy to completely recover and since then she has done an MSc in health psychology in order to more fully understand her own recovery. She is now passionate about helping others with pain and has written articles and given talks about it in a variety of places. She tweets at @Fionas_Story