About The Australian Pain Society

The Australian Pain Society was formed in 1979 as the Australian Chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain. It is a not-for-profit organisation and is directed by an elected honorary council. Annual subscriptions are set at the minimal level necessary to cover administrative costs of the society. The APS is truly a multi disciplinary organisation with representatives among its members from many medical specialties, as well as dentistry, psychology, nursing, general practitioners other health professionals and the basic sciences. The membership now numbers in excess of 800, and includes investigators and clinicians who are active in the field of pain and its management.

Vision

All people will have optimal access to pain prevention and management throughout their life.

Mission

The Australian Pain Society is a multidisciplinary organisation aiming to relieve pain and related suffering through advocacy and leadership in clinical practice, education and research.

Aims

• To promote the provision of healthcare services for pain management
• To promote equity of access to pain management services
• To actively engage with key stakeholders and contribute to their activities
• To provide a contemporary forum to discuss issues relating to pain research and treatment
• To foster and support pain-related evidence-based research
• To share and promote the expertise of all disciplines involved in the treatment of pain
• To foster and support the prevention of persistent pain
• To promote and facilitate evidence-based pain related education for health professionals and the community
• To promote the development and use of standards and outcome measures in everyday clinical practice

Aims of the Society as a PDF.

Organisation Chart 

APS Organisation Chart as a PDF

Strategic Plan Projects 2015-17

Project	Project Leaders
Develop a Media Strategy	Tim Austin Will Howard Secretariat
Waiting in Pain 2 Survey	Malcolm Hogg Anne Burke
Aged Care Guidelines Update	Fiona Hodson Malcolm Hogg Shadreck Tozana Joy Burdack
Indigenous Pain	Fiona Hodson Diann Black

Click here to download the Society Strategic Plan Projects 2015-17 as a PDF.

The Australian Pain Society is keen to enlist as members, other professionals interested in supporting the society in its goal of alleviating the suffering of our fellow citizens.

Active membership in the APS is open to all health care professionals engaged in pain research or in the diagnosis and management of pain syndromes.

Declaration of Interest Policy

The Australian Pain Society (APS) recognises the potential for conflicts of interests to arise in relation to its mission of providing leadership in clinical practice, education, research and public advocacy for improved access to multidisciplinary pain management.  In particular, the society values its relationship with public and commercial organisations involved in pain management in Australia, which with membership dues and conference delegate registrations, supports the activities of the society.

The APS acknowledges the role of its volunteer office bearers and paid staff in performing their roles and regularly discusses the potential for conflict between personal and commercial considerations and the best interests of the society.  We have adopted a Declaration of Interest procedure in order to openly acknowledge potential conflicts and ensure activities of such office bearers are in keeping with the best interests of the society.

This procedure involves:

• Awareness of participating individuals of the concepts of competing or conflicting interests
• Open disclosure of potential conflicts for executive discussion
• Register of all current and previous 5 years of competing interests of office bearers collated and updated at a minimum, yearly
• Confirmation of registered conflicts at each executive meeting of the society
• Promoting removal of competing interests where appropriate prior to assuming executive roles
• Exclusion in discussion and voting regarding decisions of the executive where significant conflicts are reported, as deemed by the executive
• Ensuring the availability of a “Register of Interests” of office bearers upon request from members of the society

In addition to conflicts pertaining to individual members of the executive of the Australian Pain Society, we would like to recognise our corporate members, whose support is registered with Medicines Australia, in compliance with their code of conduct (Edition 18).  These are:

• Seqirus
• Mundipharma
• Pfizer

In return for their support, the Australian Pain Society provides opinions regarding educational and research activity within the Australian context.  We discourage participation of our office bearers in commercial activities or participation in advisory committees.

We also note specific untied grants currently received from Seqirus and Mundipharma to support the long standing and prestigious joint Australian Pain Society and Australian Pain Relief Association PhD scholarship program.

Click here to download the APS Declaration of Interest Policy Statement, July 2015, as a PDF.

Please contact the APS Secretariat if you would like to review the Declaration of Interest Register.

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