Service Development
Service Development for Chronic Pain: A Model from Remote Australia
With limited resources in remote areas, persistent pain remains of of Australia's most costly health conditions. Urban areas are now well serviced by pain-specialised centres. However, rural and remote Australia continues to grapple with isolation, access and limited opportunity for specialised professional development. These challenges invite innovative approaches to growing the capacity of local providers and developing services that address pain-related disability.
An Integrative Approach to Building Local Capacity
The service development model devised by Kovacevic, McCrea and Hallam (2017) addresses the following considerations:
Service Definition
Pain NT is the result of co-ordination across multiple businesses in Darwin. Teleconference connects the team (locally and interstate). Services are delivered in person.
Financial Analysis
Initial focus on the compensation system in Darwin, to cover the cost of a Fly-In, Fly-Out worker with a pain service co-ordination experience. The service will expand to include non-compensable injury in 2019.
Stakeholder Mapping
We have established connections with colleagues in Alice Springs and several of the ACCHOs in light of our collective need for pain rehab innovation. The NTPHN faces other significant chronic illness challenges, which has made pain a lower priority.
Operation Risk Management
Through collaboration, we have managed the challenge of staff turnover and developed a growing pain-specialist knowledge base among our consortium.
Pain NT Learnings
Effective inter-professional treatment for persistent pain uses a biopsychosocial approach, which recognises overlap across the allied health disciplines, and acknowledges the impact of psychosocial factors (“or flags”) on treatment and recovery (WorkSafe Victoria, 2012)
Pain Rehabilitation in remote areas presents distinct challenges that are different from those in urban settings. However, these challenges are not insurmountable.
Innovative application of established pain management principles, with regard to local resources and context, will improve service access and local provider capacity.
The National Action Plan for Chronic Pain Management will be strengthened by the inclusion of a rural and remote perspective and acknowledgement of the diverse populations living in these areas.
Collaborate with us
Pain NT is committed to developing respectful partnerships with community stakeholders and we seek to understand and respect the cultural heritage, community dynamics and intellectual property of those we work with.
We’re experts in our field, and good at what we do. We take a non-hierarchical, team approach and recognize that what’s good for all of us is good for each of us. We are resilient, adapting to meet the changing needs of our clients and our communities.
We’re interested in partnering with like-minded, values-driven organisations who might want to collaborate in the areas of research / evaluation / strengthening capacity / service development.