Western Australia’s first paediatric complex pain service began at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in December 2013. The service is currently recruiting more clinical staff and will have a full interdisciplinary team operational by September 2014.
Dedicated clinic space at PMH has been renovated specifically for the service.
Children who use this service have access to an outpatient service, including regular weekly clinics with treatment from a specialist doctor and a physiotherapist.
Advice has been sought from experts around the world on how to design the service, which will include individual and group therapies as well as education and mentoring for parents to help them learn how to best support their child.
The service will be engaging in clinical research projects to improve the standard of complex pain management in Western Australia. The first of these is Pain Activity and Coping Education (PACE) telehealth study, a pain program that uses technology similar to Skype. This program has been designed for families where travel is a significant barrier to treatment. The program allows a child and their parent to attend PMH for a one-day workshop and then receive evidence based pain management at home for the next six weeks.
As part of its commitment to excellence the service is participating in the electronic Persistent Pain Outcome Collaboration (ePPOC). This is a project that aims to benchmark pain service outcomes across Australia to improve service delivery and outcomes.
Patients can access the service by a referral from a paediatrician.
Australian Pain Society 