Pain relief foundation awarded Freedom of the City - by Chris Bradley for The Nattering Nabob

A health charity has been given the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, one of the highest accolades on Merseyside.

The Pain Relief Foundation, based in Aintree, carries out groundbreaking research into chronic pain suffering and is one of the biggest pain relief clinics in Europe. 

The award means they have been admitted to the Freedom Roll of Associations and Institutions of the City of Liverpool, which includes the St John Ambulance service and the Liverpool Royal Marines.

David Emsley, an administrator for the Foundation, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be recognised for the groundbreaking work over the past 32 years.”

Co-founder and trustee Professor John Miles, then a consultant neurologist, started the Pain Relief Foundation in 1979 with Dr Sampson Lipton, an anaesthetist at Walton General Hospital and Dr David Bowsher, a neurologist from the University of Liverpool.

Professor Miles said: “We realised we didn’t know enough about the causes of chronic pain and there was no funding for research into the subject. Since, we have helped to develop many new treatments which are used around the world.”

On a visit to the centre in north Liverpool the Lord Mayor, Councillor Hazel Williams, said the history of the foundation was “awe inspiring”. She said seeing chronic pain sufferers put the pain caused by two broken ribs a few months earlier into perspective.

“They deserve to be recognised for the wonderful work they do,” she said.

The cost of treating patients who suffer from chronic pain is more than treating coronary conditions, cancer and AIDS combined. Mr Emsley said the Foundation needs around £1,500 a day “just to stand still”.

Part of the work the Pain Relief Foundation does is trying to stop the pain caused by cancer in a bio-clinic shared with the Pain Research Institute and the University Hospital Aintree. The Foundation has also funded student research into the causes of pain and relief.

As a charity, they receive no funding from the NHS, the University Hospital or any other government body and are supported entirely from donations.

Mr Emsley added: “We have helped so many people gain a good quality of life. We have achieved a centre for excellence.”