Statewide Chronic Pain Clinical Network

The Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work has been estab­lished to improve the pro­vi­sion of inte­grat­ed, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary care for peo­ple with chron­ic pain.

South Aus­tralia’s Pain Research and Inno­va­tion Hub

We have launched an online repos­i­to­ry of cur­rent and com­plet­ed pain-relat­ed projects to enable peo­ple to eas­i­ly con­nect around shared inter­ests or issues and learn from work that has already been under­tak­en. We want to help break down silos, reduce dupli­ca­tion of effort and fast-track innovation.

To con­tribute to the repos­i­to­ry or for more infor­ma­tion, see:

South Aus­trali­a’s Pain Research and Inno­va­tion Hub.


Cur­rent Projects

Low­ Back Pain

We are estab­lish­ing bet­ter care path­ways for peo­ple suf­fer­ing low back pain to improve time­li­ness and appro­pri­ate­ness of treat­ment. This is being done through greater under­stand­ing of rel­e­vant clin­i­cal and sys­tems fac­tors, as informed by data, cur­rent evi­dence and stake­hold­er input.

Opi­oid Stewardship

Work­ing with the Office of the Chief Phar­ma­cist, the Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty Unit in the Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing and local hos­pi­tal cham­pi­ons, we are help­ing hos­pi­tals meet the new Aus­tralian Com­mis­sion on Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty in Health Care’s Opi­oid Anal­gesic Stew­ard­ship in Acute Pain Clin­i­cal Care Stan­dard. This aims to ensure opi­oid use is appro­pri­ate­ly man­aged and reviewed to min­imise any risk of harm to patients. 

Ado­les­cent Pain Services

Sup­port­ed by grant fund­ing and work­ing with UniSA, Men­zies Cen­tre for Health Pol­i­cy and Eco­nom­ics and oth­er part­ners to co-design a com­mu­ni­ty-based, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary mod­el of care for ado­les­cents with chron­ic pain. This will ensure ado­les­cents have bet­ter access to care in the com­mu­ni­ty and will act as a pilot that can be used nationally.

Low Back Pain Clin­i­cal Care Standard 

We are also assist­ing the Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty Unit to iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties to help hos­pi­tals meet the new Aus­tralian Com­mis­sion on Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty in Health Care’s Low Back Pain Clin­i­cal Care Stan­dard, which describes the stan­dard of care peo­ple with low back pain can expect to receive.

Upcom­ing Projects

Pain Man­age­ment for Old­er South Australians

We are explor­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to improve chron­ic pain care for old­er South Australians.


Hear from Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Anne Burke about the Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work as part of the 2022 CEIH Con­ver­sa­tion Series

Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work Vision

A strong, con­nect­ed and inclu­sive com­mu­ni­ty of prac­tice which pro­motes evi­­dence-informed pre­ven­tion, ear­ly inter­ven­tion and man­age­ment of pain across the life span for all South Australians.

Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work Goals

The Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work has been estab­lished to improve the pro­vi­sion of inte­grat­ed, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary care for peo­ple with chron­ic pain. It aims to:

  • Fos­ter improved recog­ni­tion and under­stand­ing of chron­ic pain and its effec­tive man­age­ment in the community
  • Fos­ter sys­tems devel­op­ment and trans­par­ent shar­ing of data to bet­ter sup­port cross-sec­­tor ser­vice design, deliv­ery and collaboration
  • Sup­port improve­ments in com­mu­ni­ty, pri­ma­ry health and hos­pi­tal set­tings to ensure time­ly access to evi­­dence-informed care for all South Aus­tralians liv­ing with pain
  • Build an inte­grat­ed Com­mu­ni­ty of Prac­tice that opti­mis­es the expe­ri­ence and out­comes of chron­ic pain management.

Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work Steer­ing Committee

Network Lead

Professor Anne Burke

A/​Prof Anne Burke

Edu­ca­tion, (inter)national advo­ca­cy, psy­chol­o­gy, pub­lic ser­vices, research

Ms Edwina Shannon

Edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­py, pri­vate ser­vices, research

Mr Hen­ry Czupryn

North­ern Pain Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Ser­vice, physiotherapy

Dr Jac­in­ta Johnson

Pri­ma­ry care, hos­pi­tal, med­ica­tion safe­ty, pharmacy

Dr Jack­ie Yeoh

Med­i­cine (gen­er­al prac­tice and hos­pi­tal liai­son), shared care

Ms Julianne Flower

Return­ToWork­SA

Ms Leah Trotta

Lived expe­ri­ence, pub­lic health, pri­vate services

Mr Marc Apolloni

Ade­laide Pri­ma­ry Health Network

Mr Mark Cox

Phys­io­ther­a­py, pri­vate ser­vices, psychology

Ms Mary Wing

Lived expe­ri­ence, pain sci­ence edu­ca­tion, sup­port groups advocacy

Dr Michael Findlay

Med­i­cine (addic­tion and pain), prison services

Ms Nic­ki Edge

Coun­try Pri­ma­ry Health Network

Dr Nic­ki Ferencz

WCHN Pae­di­atric Pain Ser­vice, psychology

Mr Noël Markham

SAL­HN Pain Ser­vice, physiotherapy

Dr Samuel Whittle

Edu­ca­tion, liv­ing guide­lines, med­i­cine (rheuma­tol­ogy)

Ms Susan (Sue) Edwards

Nurs­ing, pain ser­vice coor­di­na­tion, rural

Dr Tim Semple

CAL­HN Pain Ser­vice, med­i­cine (anaes­thet­ics and pain)

Doc­u­ments and Addi­tion­al Information

Doc­u­ments

Have a question?

Or want to know more about the Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work?
Please email CEIH.​ChronicPain@​sa.​gov.​au.

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