The Commission is now operating in accordance with the Caretaker ConventionsExternal link pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election.
A Topic Working Group was convened to provide advice to the Commission on this project. The group comprised individuals with relevant expertise in pain medicine, emergency medicine, orthopaedic surgery, urological surgery, addiction medicine, emergency nursing, perioperative nursing, general practice, clinical pharmacy, community pharmacy, as well as a consumer representative.
To ensure that opioid analgesics prescribed for patients with acute pain are effective and appropriate for the patient’s stage of care.
To ensure that appropriate opioid analgesic treatment is prescribed, supplied or administered for acute pain in a way to limit the dose and duration of opioid analgesic use.
To ensure that analgesia is optimised, and that the appropriate assessment of risk factors is completed and documented to identify the need for specific risk-modification strategies.
To ensure the impact of acute pain on the patient’s function is considered together with pain scores, to guide the appropriate choice of analgesia.