OPIOID REGULATION NEEDS URGENT REVIEW

Painaustralia, the peak advocacy body for the one in five Australians suffering chronic pain, is calling on the new health minister to urgently review the 2020 opioid reforms.

In a letter, the new Chief Executive Officer of Painaustralia, Giulia Jones, has bluntly told the new Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, the reforms have failed Australians.

“Painaustralia supported action to slow the accelerating use of opioids, but the reforms have gone too far,” Mrs Jones said.

“And they have been rolled out with nowhere near enough information provided to both general practitioners and consumers.

“Under the 2020 reforms, people who genuinely need opioids are being deprived the medication they need and have been left suffering.

“More widely, people suffering chronic pain tell us the reforms have made managing their pain more difficult, more stressful, and more expensive.”

Mrs Jones said Painaustralia has become convinced a formal review was needed after a survey of its own highlighted serious flaws in the new regulations.

Over eight weeks, between December 2021 and February 2022, Painaustralia conducted an online survey that received 1808 responses plus an additional 1920 social media engagements.

Overwhelmingly, consumers reported the reforms had had a significant negative impact on their quality of life.

“Some people told us they’d had their medication cut immediately and they’d been left to suffer with little or no alternative treatment,” Mrs Jones said.

“Others reported increased feelings of anxiety and isolation, that they felt stigmatised.”

Some of the comments in the survey include:

• “I was given no warning at all and I can still tell you there are people in Australia today who don’t even know that changes were made, people still go to their GP’s in pain thinking they will be able to prescribe adequate pain medication.”
• “When you advise them, you are in constant pain and you need solutions, they say the govt rules prevent them from assisting.”
• “Since the change I have increased anxiety about being able to manage my pain and access services to continue treatment. Also, the cost of these supplementary medications and treatments is far higher.”

Mrs Jones said since the reforms were introduced the costs have also skyrocketed because the new regulations require more GP visits for scripts.

“I can’t imagine that any of these consequences were intended, but they are a factual result of the reforms,” she said.

In her letter to the Minister, Mrs Jones recommended that a standing committee on health would review the implementation of the opioid restrictions and examine the impact of the changes on consumers including on their mental health.

“Now we have a new minister, and I hope he will respond urgently to this poor outcome and take the opportunity to immediately act to resolve these difficulties.”

Click here to access the Painaustralia survey on the opioid reforms.

Opioid Report 2022 (painaustralia.org.au)

Media enquiries please contact Giulia Jones on 0439 958 298