10/11/2025
The VHA welcomes last week’s release of the Bridging the Gender Pain Gap report, which was informed by 13,000 submissions, including our organisation (Read our submission here https://ow.ly/Eaiw50Xp7qk). The report makes 27 recommendations across 7 areas, including:
- Focused funding for women’s health services
- Improvement in cross-sector information sharing and;
- Enabling a person-centred care model.
This is consistent with our submission – which called for implementation of evidence-based models of care, training and education for healthcare professionals and system planning and mapping for women’s based on population need.
We are pleased to see the Victorian Government intends to respond to key recommendations, including introducing a statewide standard for women's pain care and piloting the use of Penthrox for IUD insertion - a non-opioid pain reliever commonly known as 'green whistle'.
We are looking forward to seeing the Women's Pain Action Plan which will be developed in consultation with women across the state, and to seeing greater support for the 20 women’s health clinics already committed to and other virtual care programs that would better support women experiencing pain. Read more in the Inquiry report here https://lnkd.in/eakxZBp9 and the Victorian Government’s media statement https://lnkd.in/g7GmW2aJ.
