Community Chronic Pain Program

⁠⁠⁠The Community Chronic Pain Program is based on an existing Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) model for patients with low to moderate severity chronic pain. This program has been implemented by the South Eastern NSW PHN and the former Central Coast NSW Medicare Local. The Electronic Persistent Pain Outcomes Collaboration (ePPOC) data collected by former Central Coast NSW Medicare Local demonstrated "that the Program was successful in creating positive changes in the attitudes of the participants to functioning with pain" (Community Pain Management Program Project Report, Central Coast NSW Medicare Local, June 2015).
The Community Chronic Pain Management Program is a series of consumer education sessions delivered face to face in the community. Each program consists of a 3 hour workshop once a week for 6 weeks. Each session includes a discussion and tailored exercise component delivered by allied health professionals with a minimum of 9 participants per program.
The program aims to help people in the Nepean Blue Mountains region (which includes the local government areas (LGAs) of Penrith, Hawkesbury, Lithgow and Blue Mountains) who are living with chronic pain, to experience improved functional capacity through proven chronic pain self-management strategies.
This EOI relates to delivery of this program in Penrith, Blue Mountains and Lithgow LGAs. The program has a provider in the Hawkesbury LGA, therefore this LGA is excluded from the tender process.
Program facilitators will be required to complete the free ACI Facilitator Training. The training runs for 3 hours per week over 6 weeks delivered via online webinars as well as weekly homework tasks. The training must be completed prior to starting the workshop sessions with patients.
Program facilitators will receive (amongst other program materials) a Facilitator's Guide and Participant Workbook both of which have been prepared based on the self-help book 'Manage your Pain' (3rd Ed) by Nicholas et al, which provides the foundation for the ACI model.
Deliverables
- Up to 10 Community Chronic Pain Programs of 18 hours each (3 hours per week over six weeks) with a minimum of 15 participants per program
Programs to be delivered across the NBM region. The expected allocation is 4 x Penrith, 4 x Blue Mountains, 2 x Lithgow (Please note the allocation of programs will be based on demand). Respondents to this EOI may choose to apply to deliver programs in all or some of the identified LGAs
- Facilitators must be qualified health professional such as physiotherapist, exercise physiologist, psychologist or registered nurse.
- A team of 2 facilitators to deliver each Program and one of these facilitators must have basic CBT and/or Motivational Interviewing skills
- All facilitators to complete the ACI Facilitator Training for the Community Chronic Pain Program
- Management of referrals and workshop bookings for the Program
- Receive and assess GP referrals and use validated assessment tools for patients to ensure they meet the Program eligibility criteria
- Facilitate an information session to provide program overview to eligible participants
- Delivery of each Community Chronic Pain Program according to the ACI program methodology
- Completion of pre-program questionnaires and post patient follow ups at 4 and 12 weeks post-program
- Provide feedback to the referring GPs on the progress of each patient
- Collation of required program reports including completed ePPOC questionnaires.