A renowned central west doctor believes there needs to be incentives for practitioners to stay in the region.
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The state is facing what is described as an unprecedented health worker shortage, with some communities in the far west without even one full-time general practitioner (GP).
Dr Ross Wilson, who has over 30 years of experience as a GP, welcomed the new trainee doctors that joined the region's ranks on Monday, January 29.
But he said more needs to be done to get doctors out in regional areas, including financial incentives.
"I think we need a real pipeline from the student stage through the junior doctor stage to the specialist stage, where people are pipelined into rural areas," he said.
"We need them committed to that pipeline early on in their training.
"At the end of it, there should be a substantial reward, as far as recognition and remuneration is concerned."
He described the doctor shortage in NSW as "critical", and said the far west of the state is the worst hit.
"If you go west of Dubbo, there's not a town that can count a full-time general practitioner in its ranks," he said.
"We're about 4200 doctors short Australia-wide. That's a damning indictment on a society that says we've got equity of access to healthcare.
"I would not like to be a pregnant woman in Wilcannia because whatever you do, you've got a trip of between 500 and 600 kilometres before you can see a GP trained obstetrician or specialist obstetrician, should you need one."
A new cohort of doctors will spend the year gaining value experience from Dubbo's health professionals with the hope they'll remain here long term.
There are 34 new junior doctors who are working across Dubbo, Bathurst and Orange.
Having graduated from medical school, the interns are required to undertake a supervised year of practice before becoming independent practitioners.
"All the study papers show us that the longer the exposure of the student to a rural area, the greater the chance of remaining in the area," Dr Wilson, who is based in Bathurst, said.
"But we're finding more and more urban students choosing to stay urban.
"We've really got to get them out of the big cities into the rural areas and expose them for longer periods of time.
"If I was young and stupid and didn't have the mentors I had, I would've stayed in the city.
"I grew up in a rural area, but it was my mentors in medicine that made me come back to the bush."
Doctor Ross Wilson has worked as a GP in the Bathurst region for 30 years. In 2012 he was named Australian GP of the Year and in 2023 was the recipient of the Brian Williams Award, which acknowledges those who mentor and support rural doctors.
