The third meeting of the Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel was held in Sydney on 29 February 2024 and was chaired by Dr Richard Colbran, Chief Executive Officer of NSW Rural Doctors Network.
The Hon. Ryan Park, Minister for Health and Minister for Regional Health asked members to deep dive into the issues facing regional NSW and bring together perspectives about what needs to be done to ensure regional communities have access to high quality health services. The Minister encouraged innovative thinking about the issues.
The Panel heard presentations on how the recommendations from the Rural Health Inquiry are being addressed by NSW Health, including work underway to respond to Recommendation 1 of the Inquiry: ‘That NSW Health review the current funding models for all rural and regional Local Health Districts to identify any service delivery gaps and provide any recommendations for funding increases’. The Panel noted the complexity and breadth of the funding model for NSW Health and will provide advice to the Minister about the response to this recommendation.
Another key focus for the meeting was Aboriginal Health and the Panel heard from member Shana Quayle, Acting CEO of the Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council (AH&MRC) and Geraldine Wilson, Executive Director, Centre for Aboriginal Health at the Ministry of Health. The Panel were pleased to be provided details of positive examples of service integration and partnership however also that it is clear there was still a lot of work to be done to strengthen systems and partnerships.
The regional workforce was also discussed with members, noting the strategies to increase the health workforce in regional areas. While there has been a lot of progress, this issue is still a key concern. It was agreed that the next meeting to be held in May would focus on strengthening the regional workforce.
