Painaustralia Announces New CEO - Monika Boogs

25th September 2024

The Board of Painaustralia is pleased to formally announce the appointment of Monika Boogs as the new Chief Executive Officer. Monika begins her role this week.

Monika has been an integral part of Painaustralia since early 2021, initially serving as the Policy and Advocacy Manager and subsequently as Deputy CEO. With a background as a journalist, political adviser, and chief of staff, Monika brings a wealth of experience in government relations, advocacy, and communications. Over the past eight years, she has dedicated her career to the not-for-profit and health sectors, holding both a journalism degree and a postgraduate Master of Business degree.

Monika is deeply passionate about demonstrating and communicating the impact of policy positions on those living with chronic pain in clear and understandable ways. As a determined advocate, she has worked tirelessly to ensure that individuals with chronic pain have access to the best possible and most affordable treatments, regardless of their location. Living with chronic pain herself, Monika understands the daily challenges faced by those in similar situations and is committed to addressing and eliminating the stigma and misconceptions associated with chronic pain.

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Painaustralia at Parliament House

in Canberra

September 2023                                                                                                                 Image credit: idphoto.com.au

Last week Painaustralia gathered together with consumers, politicians, and members of the pain sector on the lawns of the Australian Parliament House in Canberra to ask for better multidisciplinary care so that all people in chronic pain can access the allied health and treatment services they need.

At our event, we asked the Federal Government to provide funding to increase the number of allied health visits to 10 per year.

We want to thank the many politicians who attended and spoke at our event, our sponsors, and most importantly the consumers who shared their stories on the day.

Painaustralia also held a showcase inside Parliament House attended by various politicians and health department officials to demonstrate how multidisciplinary care is carried out.

We want to thank all those who attended and supported us for helping make this such a successful day!

To find out more, go to www.walkmypain.com.au

My Pain Story: Benjamin Nihill

June 2023

The youngest member of our Consumer Advisory Group, Benjamin Nihill, speaks to CEO Giulia Jones about his pain story.

Despite facing a challenging setback in 2020 during his ADF training, when he got diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Ben has demonstrated remarkable resilience and rebuilt his life from the ground up.

His story serves as a testament to the power of determination and the ability to overcome obstacles.

Our Latest Media Release

Chronic Pain consumers recognised in Federal Budget, so much more to be done.

15/05/24

Last night’s national Budget has recognised the needs of people living with chronic pain and Painaustralia will continue our national conversation on this invisible condition which steals so much from people’s lives.

We are very grateful to the Federal Government which will provide assistance for Painaustralia to continue to undertake communication and awareness work for improvements to the treatment and lives of the 3.4 million Australians living with chronic pain as part of the early detection, prevention and management of chronic conditions.

We know that people with chronic pain take years to get diagnosed and need to see fundamental change and much more research to fund improved treatments. At Painaustralia we will continue to have this conversation with governments and the broader community until every person with chronic pain is seen, heard, respected, and appropriately treated so that pain can no longer steal people’s lives from them.

We also acknowledge the following items to be funded in the Budget which will assist the one in five people over 25 living with chronic pain:

• $22.1 million over two years from 2024–25 to continue support for preventive health and chronic disease research including patient and clinician services for Australians with chronic conditions, in support of the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030
• $49.1 million over four years from 2024–25 for gynecology consultations of 45 minutes or longer with patients who have complex conditions such as endometriosis and pelvic pain.
• $71.7 million over four years from 2024–25 to provide wrap around care for people with severe and/or complex needs in primary care settings, through design and delivery of mental health multidisciplinary services
• $480.2 million over five years for cheaper medicines to reduce patient costs and improve access to medicines.
• $151.1 million over five years from 2023–24, as part of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement, to increase the Dose Administration Aids cap to 90 per week.
• $318.0 million over five years from 2023–24 as part of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement for PBS general co-payments to not be indexed until 2030.
• $2.6 million in 2024–25 to support patient care improvement and general practitioner services, health professional education, condition awareness and digital resources for childhood dementia, juvenile arthritis, stroke, rare diseases and epilepsy.

While Painaustralia acknowledges the funding provided for consumers in this year’s Budget, we will continue to press for further support for multidisciplinary care for consumers who live with chronic pain including:

•  increasing the number of allied health visits under a CDM Referral to 10 per year;
• supporting the development and delivery of specialist chronic pain education and training for health professionals in the primary care setting; and
• supporting the use of the Medicare Benefits Schedule CDM Framework to treat and manage chronic pain not only associated with chronic disease but, also with other medical conditions and, as a condition in its own right.

There is so much to do to change the lives of the millions of Australians in every café, every supermarket, in every bus and in every lunchroom who are struggling to cope every day because of unending pain conditions.

We thank the government for continuing this conversation, however there is so still much more to be done.