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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-14 Daily Xml
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PAIN MANAGEMENT

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (16:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Health questions regarding pain and opioid prescribing in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: In November last year I met with a large group of South Australians who live every day with chronic health conditions and injuries which cause chronic pain. Unfortunately for these constituents, the South Australian government has set up ridiculous guidelines around the management of people requiring long-term opioid medications. These guidelines automatically label these people essentially as drug addicts. Instead of this being a medical issue, it has become a bureaucratic jumble of guidelines with no reasonable process for appeal.

After meeting with many of these people, I am concerned about their ongoing welfare and mental health due to their lack of available pain management. In recent days I have been told about a man with chronic pain who took his own life. According to those close to him, it was due to his unbearable pain. So impractical is the protocol of obtaining appropriate medication to manage his pain, he thought that this was his only option for ending it. I also understand a second person in similar circumstances has attempted suicide in just the past fortnight.

Another constituent was told as recently as this morning that their request for additional opioid medication has again been rejected after almost 40 years of managing challenging chronic fatigue syndrome and osteoporotic symptoms. This person is now seeking methods to end their life as they cannot bear the persistent chronic pain with which they must live every waking hour. There are also several other people my office is aware of who have contemplated a similar course of action in previous months.

Given there is no end in sight to the current regulatory framework that governs the prescribing and management of opioid medications, it seems futile to advise these people to wait. There is no indication that South Australia will reform and begin once again to treat pain medication as a medical issue and not a bureaucratic and criminal matter. It is a basic human right to access professional medical treatment and medication for chronic pain. The minister has been requested to meet with many of these pain sufferers on numerous occasions in the past two years and has seemingly refused every time. My questions are:

1. Is the minister aware that a person with chronic pain has suicided in the past fortnight, blaming their lack of pain management for the decision?

2. Is the minister aware that other people are looking at methods of suicide as they are unable to access adequate pain relief?

3. Is the minister aware that due to South Australia's unworkable opioid prescribing and management guidelines people are moving interstate to access adequate medical treatment?

4. Will the minister meet with chronic pain sufferers who cannot access adequate pain treatment under his department's current guidelines?

5. When will the minister engender an opioid pain management protocol that recognises the basic human rights of people with chronic pain and that allows them to manage that pain effectively?

6. Will the minister implement a suitable appeal process for chronic pain sufferers who have had their application for opioid medication refused?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (16:05): I would like to thank the honourable member for her very important six questions. I will refer them to the honourable Minister for Health in another place and obtain an answer as soon as possible.

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