An examination of referrals declined for chronic pain treatment: There is increasing mental health complexity within treatment seeking patients with chronic pain over time

Figures & data

Figure 1. The most prominent reason for declined referrals in 2018 and 2022. a) depicts the top reasons for declined referrals in 2018 and b) depicts the top reasons for declined referrals in 2022. The other category includes various declined referrals such as incomplete referrals, inappropriate referrals (not related to a chronic pain condition), or requests for pain services not provided.

Figure 2. The number of referals that were declined in 2018 and 2022 due to duplicate care. a) is due to duplicate referrals and b) is due to the patient being seen at another pain clinic within the past year.

Table 1. The number of referrals declined in 2018 and 2022 due to mental health complexities. The percentage of patients declined for the specific reason out of the total number of declined referrals for the year is shown in brackets.

Reason for declined referral	2017/2018	2022/2023
Total Mental health complexities	51 (11.43%)	180 (18.39%)
Mental health service	10 (2.24%)	94 (9.60%)
Requesting 1:1 counselling/therapy	6 (1.35%)	0 (0%)
Requesting 1:1 psychiatric care	3 (0.67%)	72 (7.35%)
Unresolved mental health service needs	1 (0.22%)	22 (2.45%)
Mental health concerns	41 (9.19%)	86 (9.90%)
Mental health not specified	0 (0%)	10 (1.02%)
Substance use: not seeking treatment	10 (2.24%)	20 (2.04%)
Schizophrenia	0 (0%)	2 (0.20%)
Personality disorders	19 (4.26%)	17 (1.74%)
Complex trauma presentations	12 (2.69%)	37 (3.78%)