Patient organisations call for national pain plan

Patient organisation have called on the government to adopt by 2020 nine policy recommendations as part of a proposed national pain plan aimed at addressing the issue of chronic pain.

In a consensus paper developed by organisations and individuals participating in the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) symposium, initiated by SIP Malta, Malta Health Network and the No Pain Foundation, participants called for restructured pain management policies, as well as for services that are more streamlined towards European guidelines.

Participants also called on local authorities to put greater focus on retraining and reintegrating pain patients into the workforce. “It not only poses economic benefits but also improves social advantages on an individual level,” SIP Malta, Malta Health Network and No Pain Foundation said in a joint statement.

Furthermore, they suggested a chronic pain prevention campaign to raise awareness for persistent pain.

The organisations claimed that more than 100 million people are affected by chronic pain across Europe, and that the recommendations build upon the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council’s theme of structured cooperation between healthcare systems.

They added that concrete policy recommendations will be presented on Friday when the symposium is concluded.