Consumers calling for better pain services: 3,000 and counting!
“For far too long in Australia, the only choice to manage pain has been taking painkillers like codeine that often create more problems and harms than they address. If codeine is no longer available over the counter then people with chronic pain need accessible and alternative treatments!”
This is the introduction to Mary-Lynne Cochrane’s change.org petition to the Minister for Health Hon Greg Hunt MP and Shadow Minister for Health Hon Catherine King MP, calling for better medical support, more accessible alternatives to medication, and more affordable allied health care for people with ongoing chronic pain.
Sr Cochrane, a Good Samaritan Sister, has lived with arthritis for more than 30 years and was reliant on painkillers and multiple surgeries before finally being told about multidisciplinary pain management. Now that she has learned how to manage her pain without medication or other interventions, she is much happier and her quality of life has improved. Sr Cochrane wants every Australian to be able to access the same level of support.
Currently most Australians living with pain cannot access best-practice pain services due to cost or location. Others are simply unaware of the role of multidisciplinary care.
With one in five Australians living with pain and an ageing population, there is an urgent need for coodrinated action to address the pain epidemic.
Australia is in a strong position to advance a national plan of action. In 2010 we were the first country to develop a National Pain Strategy, bringing together 200 delegates from 150 organisations. The strategy provides a blueprint for the management of pain and identifies best-practice models and key priorities for action.
We are urging the Council of Australian Governments to prioritise the development and implementation of a National Pain Strategy and urge people who have not yet signed the petition to add your name and share it within your networks to create a greater mandate for change.
Sign and share the petition today: https://www.change.org/p/greg-hunt-mp-better-health-care-for-australians-with-chronic-pain