Nerve block injections from GP?

danny1986 wrote: »

Hello there.

I am just wondering if a GP can administer a nerve block? in my case, this would be to the Occipital nerve in the neck.

Or are these things only administered at hospitals?

Thanks in advance.

I'm a Physio and I've never heard of a GP doing a nerve block. As far as I'm aware it'd have to be a hospital consultant. Most of the time you have to be imaged (X-ray usually) beforehand.

There is no reason that a GP cannot do a nerve block. But there are many reasons why we don't.

Myself, I very commonly would do a ring block, when working on a digit (a toe, or a finger) for either ingrown toenail surgery or perhaps removing an awkwardly deeply embedded fishing hook from a finger or a thumb, should other more simpler approaches not be appropriate.

Less often I would do a posterior tibial nerve block, which is a very effective means of anaesthetising the entire sole of the foot.

Beyond these, I wouldn't have call in my practice to do other nerve blocks and have never obtained the skillset to provide same.

A dentist would do a nerve block for root canal work.

All of these locations are sourced through reference to surface and other anatomy without recourse to xray or ultrasound guidance.

GPs would seldom do lumbar or trigeminal nerve blocks as we would not have enough patients requiring same to maintain a skill set to be able to perform them with confidence.

The old adage - "first do no harm"
Add to that - if you need something done, go to someone who does it all the time.

In short GPs can but often don't.

I'm sure there is at least one GP somewhere in the country willing to do a trigeminal nerve block, but they would have developed a special interest in regional anaesthesia. This would be far from the norm however, and I personally don't know any GP doing same.