Cr Shields was among the speakers at the parliamentary inquiry into health in rural and regional areas in Wellington on Tuesday.

He spoke about the "dire state of Wellington's health" when only one doctor had been working at Wellington Hospital.

There are now four doctors employed by the hospital. But having only one was "appalling", Cr Shields said.

"I believe on a federal front we have a massive problem with Medicare," he said.

"It is obvious we need a sliding scale with Medicare, so a higher rate is paid to bush doctors and doctors in harder-to-reach locations, similar to what the state already does when it comes to teachers, and we shouldn't necessarily be paying Medicare to some of those well-off areas of the state.

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"It's not about paying more money into the health system, it's about making sure the money spent is going to the right places."

It's an idea that's already being embraced. Last week, the federal government announced a $65 million boost for bulk billing in the bush.

The rural bulk billing incentive will increase between 10 to 40 per cent, with the more remote the area, the greater the payment general practitioners will receive per consultation.

Bathurst Regional Council's director of environmental, planning and building services Neil Southorn also raised concerns about staffing levels.

Referring to the federal government Department of Health's health workforce data from 2019, Mr Southorn said Bathurst had 32.3 medical practitioners per 10,000 head of population, compared to the NSW benchmark of 44.6.

Other regional cities have much better levels of service.

"I've got no problem with Orange having the right level of service, it's the distribution of that service; [Orange has] 77.7 medical practitioners per 10,000 head of population," Mr Southorn said.

"If you translate that to the population of the local government area, rather than per 10,000, Bathurst is minus 53 medical practitioners for the population NSW benchmark. Orange is plus 141, Dubbo plus four, so on benchmark.

"... We all have a lot of sympathy and we worry about our more remote and smaller colleagues in local government in NSW, but this is Bathurst, a premier regional city and still not anywhere near NSW benchmark."

Representatives from the Warrumbungle Shire Council also addressed the inquiry.

The parliamentary inquiry into health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in continued in Dubbo on Wednesday.

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