Pain Assessment and Reassessment Audit

Free projects are complete and ready to use. Paid projects can also be adapted to your local requirements. This project uses a fixed Lazomis clinical configuration of 27 audit criteria across cohort and assessment context, initial pain assessment, individualised assessment, intervention or action, reassessment after intervention, safety, adverse effects and monitoring, and escalation and follow-up. Data collection, dashboards, findings, improvement planning, re-audit and every output are included at no cost.

• Doctors, nurses, clinical pharmacists, ACPs and physician associates
• Pain nurses, palliative care clinicians, ward leaders and ED/UTC leads
• QI, clinical governance and service management teams
• Trainees needing ARCP-ready evidence

• Measure whether an initial pain assessment is documented using an appropriate method
• Review whether pain severity, site, character and functional impact are documented
• Review whether action is taken where pain is present and whether pain is reassessed afterwards
• Review safety consideration, monitoring, escalation, follow-up and discharge pain plans
• Generate governance-ready and ARCP-ready evidence

• Anonymised case number, review date, audit cycle, care setting and location
• Age band, communication or cognition issue, postoperative and palliative status
• Pain assessment method, severity category and adapted-assessment need
• Intervention type, reassessment timing, pain response, escalation route
• 27 fixed audit criteria (Yes / No / Not applicable)
• Free-text learning points

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

This ready-built project is developed using the guidance, standards and authoritative sources listed below, so you can see what is being measured and why. Lazomis QI does not publish or own this guidance, and inclusion here does not imply endorsement or approval by any of these organisations.

• Faculty of Pain Medicine, Royal College of Anaesthetists

  Core Standards for Pain Management Services in the UK(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National standards for the organisation, assessment, documentation and review of pain management across acute, inpatient and specialist services.

• Royal College of Anaesthetists / Faculty of Pain Medicine

  Inpatient pain assessment and documentation standards(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Expectations for regular pain assessment, use of appropriate assessment tools, reassessment after intervention and documentation of response in inpatient care.

• Royal College of Emergency Medicine

  Management of Acute Pain in Adults in the Emergency Department(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Standards for timely pain assessment, analgesia and reassessment in emergency and urgent care settings. Apply where the audit is used in ED or urgent care.

• NICE

  NG193: Chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National guidance on assessment of chronic pain, impact on quality of life, shared decision-making and management. Apply where chronic pain assessment is relevant.

• NICE

  CG138: Patient experience in adult NHS services(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Expectations for communication, individualised care and shared decision-making, including discussion of symptoms such as pain.

• Local policy

  Local acute pain, postoperative, opioid safety, paediatric pain, palliative care, safeguarding and escalation policies

  Local reassessment timeframes, pain assessment tools, observation and monitoring requirements, opioid safety procedures, escalation routes and discharge pain-plan templates define what is required locally. Confirm local policy before interpreting results.

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.
• This tool supports clinical audit and quality improvement. It does not replace clinical judgement, local policy, local formulary, specialist advice or urgent escalation pathways.
• Severe, rapidly worsening, unexplained, postoperative, traumatic, neurological, chest, abdominal, sickle cell, cancer-related, palliative or safeguarding-related pain should be managed according to local urgent or emergency escalation pathways.
• No universal pain-score threshold or reassessment interval is imposed. Local acute pain, opioid safety, postoperative, palliative care, paediatric, safeguarding and escalation policies apply.
• Use anonymous case identifiers only — never patient-identifiable information.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Clinical GovernanceLeveraging Incident Themes for Quality Improvement and Patient SafetyThis guide helps NHS teams identify and analyse recurring incident themes, transforming reported safety events into practical quality improvement opportunities to enhance patient safety and system reliability.
• Clinical GovernanceIntegrating Quality Improvement into Clinical Governance FrameworksThis article explores the vital relationship between Quality Improvement (QI) and Clinical Governance within the NHS, demonstrating how they are two sides of the same coin when aiming for continuous, systematic improvement in patient care.
• Patient SafetyIntegrating Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: A Practical Guide for UK CliniciansThis guide explains the foundational principles of patient safety and quality improvement (QI) within the UK healthcare context, offering practical strategies for clinicians to enhance safety and improve care delivery.
• Patient SafetyEscalation Failures: Understanding and Preventing Harm in Clinical PracticeEscalation failures are a significant contributor to avoidable harm in healthcare. This guide explores their root causes and outlines practical steps for NHS staff to improve communication, clinical handover, and timely senior review.