Chronic pain patients often also have severe problems sleeping, which can amplify their pain and increase their distress and disability. These patients do request treatment for their insomnia, but such treatment is never a main focus in pain management programmes. In primary care drugs remain first-line treatments for pain-related insomnia despite limited evidence of their long-term effectiveness and safety.

Hybrid cognitive-behavioural therapy (Hybrid CBT) is a new approach to tackling pain-related insomnia. It addresses pain and sleep simultaneously, exploiting factors underpinning the persistence of both problems. Delivered as a brief but intensive treatment in secondary care, Hybrid CBT was effective in not only improving sleep and reducing pain interference, but also counteracting fatigue and depression. The improvements were also clinically meaningful, however, it is not yet known if the patient benefits could be translated to primary care.

This study therefore aims to test the feasibility of delivering this promising intervention in a primary-care setting. The results of the study will inform the planning and implementation of a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of the Hybrid CBT in primary care.