Western NSW Local Health District chief executive officer Scott McLachlan has spoken about a 'strong culture of accountability' within the Western NSW Local Health district.
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Mr McLachlan was one of the speakers during Wednesday's Dubbo hearing into the inquiry into health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW.
"To those who have experienced the care that is not what they needed or wished, I want to say again how sorry I am.
"We have a strong culture of accountability in our district, and while the majority of people who come to our services do leave with an outcome and experience they do value, when it doesn't occur we are committed to learning from it. Part of that learning is growing our understanding of Aboriginal culture."
The inquiry heard there had been 11 'adverse events' across the local health district in the past year, and in four of those there wasn't a medical practicioner [a doctor] present.
Those four deaths had all been reported to the coroner.
They also heard the number of nurses trained in advanced life support was approximately 230, with 70 per cent of those working in the smaller rural settings within the district.
Mr McLachlan said there was a budget of $150 million for doctors in today, with $4 million spend on a team of virtual rural general services, supporting 33 small rural health services. On top of that there was funds spent on additional emergency specialists, intensive care specialists and other services.
Mr McLachlan said the heart of the problem was the lack of GPs in the communities.
"The realities of the medical workforce ... heart of the problems is the ongoing supply of local GPs who are then able to work in our hospitals. GPs are a cruital part of our primary health care services. Doctors sometimes also work in local hospitals as VMOs, they will work in the Emergency Departments.
"Even when there are GPs available locally, not all doctors can or want to work in their local hospital. For the ones that do, it is challenging to find balance between working on call, their business and their personal life."
The need for more GPs was also addressed by Western NSW Primary Health Network board chair Dr Robin Williams who is also a GP in Molong.
"A lot of younger graduates don't want to come and live in the country ... for all sort of factors. The problem is not the workforce, it is that the market is wrong ... I think we have to change the market, we have to have intervention from all levels of government to change that, so that rural health becomes something ... that younger graduates want to support."
Dr Williams said the Primary Health Network had been working on this and wanted to see more support from Commonweatlth, State and Local Governments.
He said a system needed to be in place which could support other towns, so it wasn't just Dubbo, Bathurst and Orange when it came to the Western district.
"...If you lose a GP and an MPS in a rural town, then young people won't be moving them. The rural communities need support, and they deserve that."
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