Background

As the Health System Reforms (2021), signify centralisation, this shift in focus offers momentum and opportunity for the implementation of national models of care. The benefits and efficiencies to be gained by coordinating and establishing a collegial model of care is evidenced in international literature (Starling, 2018). However, the scale of implementation using this Model of Care Framework for New Zealand, is pioneering. It seeks to meet population health need effectively, using best practice, the right mix of skills and maximising contemporary health technologies.

Chronic pain affects all ages and genders, regardless of location or socioeconomic status. Where services are proportionally lower in volume, they continue to demonstrate complexity in workforce resourcing, range of treatment services offered and inequitable access across populations, particularly:

• Māori • Pacific Peoples • People living with disability • Rural groups • Older people • Children and adolescents • Refugee and migrant groups • Intersectional communities • Women

New Zealand currently has an episodic, silo-oriented delivery model of chronic pain services. These services differ in their resourcing, geographical availability, criteria for accessibility, treatment accreditation and provision. The EAG has considered paediatric and adult service provision, best practice treatments, resource requirements and equity of access within an inclusive bi-cultural approach.

The membership of the EAG for chronic pain was coordinated by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Pain Medicine. They engaged in recruitment across their multidisciplinary workforce and ensured that they also included consumer and Māori Health representation.

It is intended that the Model of Care for Chronic Pain described in this document will address the service issues and move towards prompt, appropriate and evidence-based delivery of care for people living with chronic pain.