A message from the Acting CEO
Welcome to the first edition for 2022 of Painaustralia’s eNews. I hope you were able to spend some time during the beginning of the year with family and friends.
With the pandemic and an upcoming election already dominating our daily news, inboxes and social media accounts, it is important to take time to reflect on how these events will impact consumers living with chronic pain.
The pandemic has resulted in many challenges for people living with chronic pain: there are the long-term impacts of Covid-19, delays in elective surgery, social isolation, and continuing difficulty in accessing pain medication and multi-disciplinary treatment services. At Painaustralia, we will continue to raise these and other issues about chronic pain to educate and increase awareness to as many people as possible, to governments, to policy makers and to the broader community.
The start of the year has already been busy and we are excited to announce the expansion of our National Pain Services Directory. The directory includes a comprehensive list of more than 200 pain clinics and specialists who treat all types of pain conditions. We are now extending the service to include allied health professionals with specialist pain training or qualifications. You can read more in this edition of the newsletter.
This month’s edition of eNews also includes information on our survey about the impact of opioid regulations, the NSW Government's real time prescription monitoring program and features a story on one of the new members of our Consumer Advisory Group.
There is also a guest piece from one of Painaustralia's members, Drew Singleton, who is Managing Director of Core Healthcare Group. I hope you enjoy this edition of eNews.
Monika Boogs, Acting CEO