Evaluation of the relationship between geographic proximity and treatment for people referred to a metropolitan multidisciplinary pain clinic.

OBJECTIVE This study examined which patient characteristics are associated with travelling further to attend a metropolitan, publicly-funded pain management service, and whether travel distance was associated with differences in treatment profile, duration, and percentage of appointments attended. DESIGN Cross-sectional observational cohort study. METHOD Patients aged  60 minutes had fewer treatment minutes (median=143 minutes) and a smaller proportion attended group programs versus medical appointments only (n = 35, 17.0%) than people living within 15 minutes (median=440 minutes; n = 184 attended group programs, 32.6%). People living 16-30 minutes from the clinic missed the highest proportion of appointments. CONCLUSIONS While people travelling further for treatment may be predominantly seeking medical treatment, particularly opioid medications, the present findings highlight the need to further explore patient triage and program models of care to ensure that people living with persistent disabling pain can access the same quality and duration of care regardless of where they live.