PAIN has anatomical, physiological and psychological components which are inseparably linked as the ‘pain experience’. The value of pam studies in a chnical setting has been emphasised, [l] and it IS m this situation that the pain experience is of greatest interest to those concerned with pam relief The present mvestlgation was carried out m the Radiotherapy wards of the Royal Infirmary, Sheffield on patients suffermg from advanced mahgnant disease. The purpose was to search for relationships between the patients subjective assessment of pain, communication of pain and the reaction of the nursing staff evaluated in terms of the treatment given for pam rehef. A total of 62 patients were studied of whom 15 were excluded because of death or discharge from the ward before the mvestigatlon was completed. Of the remammg 47 patients there were 24 males and 23 females with ages rangmg from 23 to 75 and 15 to 75 years respectively The conditions for which they were being treated are listed in Table 1. TABLE 1 -THE NATURE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF THE LESIONS