Dr Neil Collighan

Dr Collighan graduated from Edinburgh University Medical School in 1996. He spent the following13 years undergoing training and research in anaesthesia, intensive care and chronic pain management.

Higher specialist training in pain management was undertaken in the Yorkshire School of Anaesthesia. In July 2009 he was appointed as a consultant for the East Kent University NHS Foundation Trust in anaesthesia, intensive care and chronic pain management. Dr Collighan’s current commitments are spread between the QEQM hospital, Margate and the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury.

He is currently the Trust Lead for Pain Services within East Kent and now works full-time in Pain Management delivery.

Dr Collighan has been trained in the more complex interventional procedures including spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal drug delivery devices and intradiscal therapies. He believes that all pain management strategies should be a combined medical, interventional and psychological approach to ensure optimum results and patient well-being.

He set up the local Kent Centre for Pain Medicine and Neuromodulation service, with his colleague Dr Bhadresha, which is the only NHS Spinal Cord Stimulator service within South East Coastal region.

Dr Collighan has developed a private multidisciplinary assessment and implantation service with regards Spinal Cord Stimulation, Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation, Multifidus Stimulation and Intrathecal Pump therapies.

Other treatments offered can include

• Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar/Caudal epidurals under X ray guidance
• Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar/Sacral nerve root blocks
• Guanethedine blocks
• Paravertebral blocks
• Cervical,Thoracic and Lumbar facet joint injections
• Sacroiliac joint injections
• Radiofrequency denervation of Cervical/Thoracic/Lumbar facet joints and sacroiliac joints
• Lumbar sympathectomy
• Pulsed Radiofrequency of a dorsal root ganglion
• Joint injections under X ray guidance
• Occipital nerve blocks

Clinical Interests

• Dr Collighan treats all aspects of Pain management except facial pain. His main interest is Neuromodulation but he is very experienced in radiofrequency procedures and is able to deliver all variations of interventional procedures to cover pains including involving the upper and lower limbs, spinal pain, CRPS, back pain, neck pain and musculoskeletal pain.
• Dr Collighan has been a Council member of the British Pain Society since 2017.
• Dr Collighan has been a member of NHS England Clinical Reference Group for Specialised Pain Services since its inception in 2012.
• Dr Collighan has been a member of NHS England’s Device Working Group (for the assessment, management and costings of High Cost neuromodulation devices) since its inception in 2018.
• Dr Collighan actively lectures and teaches Locally, Nationally and Internationally on the concepts and practices of Radiofrequency techniques and Neuromodulation.
• He recently was involved in the Consensus national publication on the Specifications for delivery of lumbar facet Denervation in the UK.

Professional Membership

• British Pain Society
• The Royal College of Anaesthetists
• The Association of Anaesthetists
• British Medical Association
• The International Association for the Study of Pain
• The Neuromodulation Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland
• The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia (and Pain Therapy)
• World Institute of Pain