NSW Farmers has welcomed a renewed political focus on rural health this week, but warned all levels of government real reform required more than a simple cash splash.
NSW Farmers member and retired paediatric occupational therapist Sarah Thompson said people outside of the major cities had long experienced inferior health and hospital services, a fact confirmed in the findings released by the NSW Legislative Council's Inquiry into Health on Thursday.
"We welcome any boost in funding for regional, rural and remote health, but it's critical that this delivers well-designed programs that deliver better outcomes for improved health across the community," Mrs Thompson said.
"Delivering good health outcomes requires collaboration with all funding levels, to set out clear strategies to strengthen and fund the sustainability of health services in regional, rural and remote communities, however, this must involve local communities and their local health districts.
"This has been a problem for many years, and what we really need to identify and understand is what is needed to attract and retain doctors in these communities, and why the regional health workforce is so stretched."
For years people in regional and rural communities have complained of difficulties in accessing health services, with a reduction in maternity services just one of many concerns. The situation is even worse in remote communities, where people lack access even to simple health services and find themselves having to drive hours on end for any kind of medical attention - consequently increasing the medical response required.
Mrs Thompson represented NSW Farmers at the NSW Legislative Council's Inquiry into Health, which released its report on Thursday, identifying a range of issues facing health services in regional, rural and remote communities.
Among the findings were recommendations regarding recruitment and training of medical and allied health workforce, a review of existing working conditions, and current models of care. Importantly, there was a recommendation to review any progress made on addressing the issues in two years' time.
Mrs Thompson said it was unreasonable to expect to find simple solutions to complex problems, and said there needed to be a swift and detailed analysis of the health problems outside of the major cities, focusing on the different access challenges of regional, rural and remote communities and developing responsive local solutions.
"The first step is getting a good understanding of the problem and then working collaboratively to achieve a good solution," she said.
"Major regional centres like Dubbo, smaller towns like Coolah, and more remote towns like Cobar - they all have very different levels of access to health services.
"People in all three of these communities have similar basic health needs but the populations and challenges are very different, and in terms of accessibility, what's easy to fix in Dubbo is almost impossible in places like Cobar and needs a different approach."
NSW Farmers will continue to work with all parties to achieve a detailed review of the problem and formulate strategies for reform.
