PainAustralia Annual General Meeting; the impact of chronic pain in Australia’s ageing workforce
On 9 April 2013 the Painaustralia AGM (Annual General Meeting) took place from 4-6 pm in the Theatrette, Parliament House Macquarie Street.
Guest speaker, Professor Deborah Schofield, Chair of Health Economics, University of Sydney reported on her recent study which highlights the impact of chronic pain in Australia’s ageing workforce and the implications of forced retirements on future welfare costs. Improved management of chronic pain could halt the rise in the disability support pension.
40 percent of early retirements – equating to 280,000 people aged between 45 and 64 – are due to arthritis and back problems, both associated with chronic pain. This shows that welfare costs will increase and highlights the need for the federal government and opposition to address chronic pain in their health policies.
For more information, please have a look on the PainAustralia website.