Pain Survey

People living with chronic pain overwhelmingly feel the Government should provide financial relief to help meet the cost of managing their pain, the latest National Pain Survey has shown.

The 2019 survey, released this week as part of National Pain Week, shows 84 per cent of respondents did not find accessing allied health professionals to be affordable and 96 per cent felt the Government should provide a full or partial rebate for accessing allied health professionals to manage chronic pain.

National President of Chronic Pain Australia Jarrod McMaugh said the survey showed that while people living with pain want to know more about medicinal cannabis, they face hurdles when it comes to accessing treatment, including a complicated approval process and the cost being out of reach for most people.

The full survey is available here.

Also this week, a guide has been released to promote the use of more positive and less stigmatising language when talking or writing about pain and those living with pain conditions.

The guide, Talking About Pain: language guidelines for chronic pain, was launched by the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, this week.

Talking about Pain: language guidelines for chronic pain has been developed by Painaustralia with the support of the Federal Government. The guide, which is available here, stresses that the language used must be empowering, accurate, respectful and inclusive. 

Launching the guide, Mr Hunt said: “The language we use and the stories we tell can send powerful messages to people living with chronic conditions, either causing distress and further harm or giving people hope and optimism that they can still live a good life even faced with significant physical and mental health challenges.”

Community pharmacists are at the forefront of helping patients manage chronic pain and the Chronic Pain MedsCheck Trial is building on this expertise and also helping pharmacists build relationships with other health professionals who provide support for patients with chronic pain.

The role of community pharmacies in the trial, details of which can be accessed here, includes:

• Supported self -management of patients taking medication who are dealing with chronic pain for more than three months through pharmacist advice;
• Pharmacy-based evaluation of patients’ medicine;
• Provision of an action plan which incorporates education, self-management and referral to other health professionals where additional support is required; and
• Three-month follow up after the initial service.

Source: www.guild.org.au/news-events/news/forefront/v09n14/pain-survey?_cldee=bWFyaWFAdW5pdHloZWFsdGguY29tLmF1&recipientid=lead-3e390a794ed7e41194032c44fd7e3c9c-dbc05af295b14a1fbea818f57e71d262&esid=fbfdfcbe-e6ac-e911-940f-2c44fd7e3c9c, viewed 24 July 2019