Chronic pain management critical to retaining workers

Australian workers struggling to manage chronic pain need to regain control over their lives, says Coralie Wales, President of the Chronic Pain Association of Australia.

The good news is they can gain control with community help, she says in an interview.

CORALIE WALES, President of Chronic Pain Australia

One in five people suffer chronic pain – pain that’s experienced on a daily basis in excess of three to six months — and one in 10 will report that pain is interfering with their lives, which means it might be affecting their ability to work, says Ms Wales.

Also, research shows that the chemistry of stress can make the experience of pain from an injury worse, paving the way for the likelihood of chronic pain.

“We know that people stop going to work because of pain and are less effective at work,” she says.

Research shows that Australia loses five billion dollars every year in reduced work productivity due to chronic pain in workers — a big number given the ageing workforce and skills shortage

People aged between 35 and 55 years can have two or more chronic conditions. When they suffer an injury, the problem becomes complex.

“Managing that pain is really important and retaining those workers is critical because as a nation, we need those numbers in our work force.”

Ms Wales will be speaking at the Annual National Workers Compensation Conference on 23-26 February 2009 in Melbourne.

She will talk about how minor soft tissue injuries can lead to chronic pain and how clinicians and workers will benefit from an understanding of the physiology of chronic pain and how to deal with it.

She will also discuss the need to improve the level of control workers with chronic pain have over their lives.

“That means bringing them into the process and not excluding them from the process of planning in rehabilitation,” Ms Wales says.

“I’ll be touching on the fact that we can produce a circle around injured workers which makes them the leader, rather than the follower…and when we do that it really works, reducing a lot of the game playing that goes on in rehabilitation.”

Ms Wales says research shows the community can play a key role in workers getting back to a position of trusting after possibly years of feeling they haven’t had control because they haven’t trusted what has been going on in their lives in trying to manage pain.

The importance of community is the reason why Chronic Pain Australia exists.

“We’ve developed an organisation which is made up of volunteer consumers of pain management services, just ordinary people who have been through the experience and who have now become a model for other people, and it helps people trust the process of learning how to manage their pain,” she says.

Other speakers attending the conference include Martin Dolan, Chief Executive Officer for Comcare; Jarrod Moran, Workers Compensation Officer for Australian Council of Trade Unions; Dr Peter Tuchin, Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University; Craig Bosworth, Public & Industry Affairs Manager for Medibank Private; and Dr Angelica Vecchio-Sadus, HSE & Site Operations Manager at CSIRO Minerals.

www.nationalworkerscomp.com.au

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact:

Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

How to secure the benefits of a return to work program

Programs to get employees back to work after injury or illness are not always simple, but the benefits are significant for employers, employees and insurers.

They include fewer employers’ liability claims, less staff absence and reduced or contained employer liability costs, and employees are less likely to feel aggrieved.

A British insurers’ report reveals the benefit to cost ratio can be as high as 12:1.

In Australia, savings of close to $4 million from rehabilitation services costing $82,000 were recorded by the Queensland Department of Education in just one region, the Wide Bay region.

The Return to Work Forum 2008 at the Hilton on the Park, Melbourne on 17-19 November will take a practical and comprehensive look at the entire return to work process.

The aim is to provide organisations with an understanding of the issues of getting back to work from long term and short term injuries.

The conference will focus on legislation, policy and procedures, cost issues, injury management, psychological issues, wellness programs and the management of returned workers.

Speakers include experts with long experience in occupational health and safety, injury management and rehabilitation.

Tracey Browne, Manager of National OHS Policy and Membership Services, for the Ai Group, will lead the sessions with an industry perspective on return to work policies and practices, followed by Steven Champion, OH&S and Injury Management Coordinator, Anglican Retirement Villages, who will speak on the value of return to work programs.

Other speakers will discuss the design of return to work programs, injury management, early intervention, the legislative framework, measuring outcomes, mental health and prevention.

http://www.iir.com.au/rtw

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews please contact: Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

Interview – Mike Doyle on occupational health and wellbeing

We had the opportunity to talk to Mike Doyle, Manager Culture & Performance, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, about the role of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and uncover their secret to success when asked about their health and wellbeing program that played a key part in winning the inaugural Best Employer in the Public Sector award.

He also shed some light on the main points he will touch on in his presentation to the Occupational Health & Wellbeing Conference 2008 on the 16th and 17th of September in Sydney.