ePPOC REPORTS POSITIVE RESULTS
The second ePPOC (electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration) benchmarking report for the period 1 July 2016 to 20 June 2017 has shown more pain services are meeting benchmarks or improving services than ever before, demonstrating the value of benchmarking for improvements in service delivery.
Many more services are achieving the benchmark of at least 30% of patients experiencing improvement in moderate to severe pain, while some services are now reporting figures of 80 percent.
A large proportion of people who received treatment from adult pain services reported improvement in a range of areas – making a strong case for the value of multidisciplinary support.
Key improvements were:
- more than 25% experienced significant reduction in their pain on average;
- a total of 58% reported significantly less interference in daily activities; and
- around 50% experienced a reduction in depression, anxiety and stress.
The wait time from referral to first appointment is also improved, with the average wait time now 86 days, and 68% of patients are meeting the benchmark of being seen within three months of referral.
Data was analysed from 60 participating adult pain services, which have treated about 40,000 adults to date, and seven paediatric pain services, which have treated more than 1000 patients. Females outnumbered makes, making up 57% of total patients in the adult pain services and 70% in the paediatric pain services.
There are 18 participating pain services located in New Zealand, while in Australia the greatest participation is from New South Wales with 20, and Victoria with 19 ePPOC pain services. This has increased from a total of just 12 participating services in June 2014, in the early stages of the program.
ePPOC involves collection of a standard set of data items and assessment tools by specialist pain services across Australia and New Zealand in order to improve treatment outcomes for consumers.
For more information please view the most recent ePPOC report for adult pain management services.