Pain medication: Patients wait up to 8 years to receive treatment

Publication of White Book on Pain Medicine

Berlin – "There is a high degree of pain therapeutic under- and mismanagement", criticizes the "Berufsverband der Ärzte und Psychologischen Psychotherapeuten in der Schmerz- und Palliativmedizin in Deutschland (BVSD). Hereby the association refers to a medical research on the quality of the health care for chronic pain patients. The association has now published the results in a so called "White Book on Pain Medicine".

According to the study, the time between the first symptoms of a chronic pain disease and the beginning of receiving qualified pain therapeutic measures in the federal state Sachsen-Anhalt, can take up to eight years, followed by Bremen (6.5 years), Berlin (5 years) and Saarland (4.8 years). Pain patients in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have to wait for the shortest period, which is 2.2 years. Brandenburg has the second place (3 years), followed by Niedersachsen (3.1 years).

"About 2 million pain patients are roaming through our healthcare system and receive an adequate treatment only after a long period of time", the BVSD Chairman Joachim Nadstawek explained.

He criticized that bad conditions for pain patients worsened the situation for the patients. In the research 25% of the patients which were surveyed mentioned that their fees have decreased with 30% since 2008. For 17% of the surveyors, the fees had risen. "Due to economic reasons, many physicians feel that they are not able anymore to work actively as a pain therapist", Nadstawek concludes.

Please find here the original article on deutscheärzteblatt.de (German).