I write in response to your Official Information Act request received by us on 27 November 2019. We advised on the 14th January advising that we required an extension of time under Section 15A of the Act.
You requested the following information:
Regarding chronic pain services for the population of your district health board (DHB):
1.Are chronic pain services separately funded by the DHB? If so, please provide data on:
a.budgeted and actual expenditure in 2017/18 and 2018/19,
b.number of pain specialists/consultants employed by the DHB,
c.number of patients (both non-ACC and ACC patients) who received services in 2017/18and 2018/19,
d.average waiting times for an appointment following referral from a GP, or other healthpractitioner,
e.make-up and dedicated FTE of the multidisciplinary team workforce.
2.If there is no chronic pain service, please provide information on:
a.where patients are referred to, and the average waiting times for assessment andtreatment in 2017/18 and 2018/19,
b.number of patients referred for services out of the district in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
3.What steps is the DHB taking to improve chronic pain services?
The Faculty of Pain Medicine is seeking the above information from all DHBs to help us better understand the availability of, and access to, pain services in New Zealand and to use the information in our continuing efforts to advocate for chronic pain services to be seen as a priority.
Our response is attached
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