Hospital staff are aiming to break the pain barrier for long-suffering patients in Bradford.

Eleven employees have been named team of the year at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust for using state-of-the-art technology to target pain.

The group has now been handed £5,000 of prize money to start a support forum for sufferers and improve access to information.

The pain management team, comprising three nurses, seven consultant anaesthetists and a clinical assistant, provides an acute service for patients who have undergone surgery or suffered chronic pain for more than six months.

Latest techniques include spinal epiduroscopy, where a small telescope is inserted into the spinal cord to examine the central nervous system, treat scar tissue and administer drugs.

Tiny spinal cord stimulators are also implanted in patients to electronically block pain signals reaching the brain.

The method is being used on angina sufferers for the first time and is particularly helpful for patients with nerve damage following surgery or pain due to poor blood supply in the legs.

Judges were also impressed with a nurse-led clinic and rehabilitation programme covering education, psychology and physiotherapy.

Trust chairman John Ryan said the pain management project was a perfect example of teamwork improving patient care.

"The quantity and, more importantly, quality of entries we received this year is again testimony to the wealth of skill, dedication and inspiration which exists across all wards and departments at both hospitals. Each has shown that Bradford is at the forefront of innovation," he added.

The team of the year competition, sponsored by Sovereign Health Care, is open to all employees at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital and past winners have gone on to national and international acclaim.

Runner-up in this year's competition was the Diabetes Pregnancy Service, closely followed by the Bereavement Follow-up Team from the Intensive Care Unit.

Part of the prize money will be used to encourage patients to make audio tapes of their experience of living with spinal cord stimulator implants. Information on using pain-relieving devices will also be produced for patients' lockers.