Dubbo psychiatrist Warren Kealy-Bateman says ministerial health advisory panel a 'real opportunity' for change

"I have immense passion for improving healthcare in this district. My grandparents were very humble farmers and I have a great love for this region and being asked to apply for the panel and being offered a spot on it was incredibly humbling for me," he said.

"I hope the panel is culture for real and not culture for show, and I think we will be."

Mr Kealy-Bateman was in Sydney on Friday for the second meeting of the Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel which was put together in the wake of a damning report into the state of regional healthcare handed down by a parliamentary inquiry.

"I'm now in my 23rd or 24th year as a doctor and I've been really worried about how a lot of decisions for people in rural areas have been made in Macquarie Street or North Sydney and we haven't had a great deal of say or calibration about how those decisions are made," said Mr Kealy-Bateman.

"The panel's a really exciting opportunity for people who have boots on the ground to be able to shape those decisions in a really practical way. We're people that actually know our country and know what needs improvement."

"I know that the outcomes for people in the country are going to be improved by the work of this panel and I feel we're genuinely being listened to. We're really able to put our tentacles in."

Mr Kealy-Bateman - who works for the Western NSW Local Health District as Clinical Director Mental Health Drug and Alcohol - is particularly concerned about how little knowledge some rural communities have about mental health treatment options which are available.

"One of the biggest challenges is people having mental health literacy and knowing what's around and what's available," he said.

"People often say that they can't get urgent mental health care and they have to wait months for treatment. That's simply not true - they don't know the emergency contact numbers and that they can just walk into an emergency department if they needed to and see a specialist mental health worker and get advice from a psychiatrist urgently."

Other challenges he highlighted include the availability of services in more remote areas in the region and the need for better partnerships with local Indigenous leaders.

"When you start heading up the road and out of big towns like Dubbo and Orange it gets harder and harder to get in and see primary health care practitioners like GPs and harder to get support and services," he said.

"My heart sinks when I know that there's a gap and that there's a need and they're not getting help."

Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor says the panel will play an integral role in the NSW Government's work to improve health outcomes for people in regional and rural areas. The panel met face-to-face for the first time in September and provided insights which will help shape the government's draft Regional Health Plan.

"I'm not aligned to either side of politics - I just want good health outcomes - but [minister Taylor] has brought so much energy to the process and seems very genuine about trying to get this right," said Mr Kealy Bateman.

"So far we've got off to a good start and she's interested in, no matter what happens on an election day, this having a momentum that keeps going and empowering rural people."

Mr Kealy-Bateman said the diverse range in ages on the panel gives the group perspective into the challenges and lived-experiences of different demographics in the community.

"I'm so impressed. I sit back and listen to people's answers and kind of think 'why am I here, that was such a good response'. We're getting perspectives not just from people who have decades of experience, but also from people who are young and see things in a different way," he said.

"These people are meeting the challenges in a very different way - they might be trying to buy a house or have a child - they're facing different challenges to people who are much older. And they might be much more fluent with technology."

"But I really like the way everyone is respectful and attuned to different points of view."

Also serving on the panel from the central west are Parkes mayor Ken Keith and Orange GP Dr Anna Windsor.

In the first meeting, panellists discussed ways to bolster the regional health workforce, better integrating federal and state government systems, creating partnerships with Aboriginal health services, better community consultation and the differences in service models needed for regional, rural and remote locations.

"This has been my life's work to try and work with people to give them the care that they would like both at the individual level and systems and community level," said Mr Kealy-Bateman.

"It's not this political panel, it's a group of people who are really thinking about what might be in the best interests of the people of NSW. And there's no city people there - it's really focused on rural people and that's the biggest breath of fresh air."

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