General News
6 October, 2025
Roy's Round Up - September 30, 2025
Dr Joe McGirr’s Rural Health Action Plan
Back in 2022 the inquiry into Health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW, handed down its findings.
It identified some serious problems with the health system in regional areas, and gave 44 recommendations, some of which have since been implemented, but there is still a long way to go.
My parliamentary colleague Dr Joe McGirr is chair of the chair of the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health, which has conducted inquiries looking into the ongoing implementation of the recommendations of that report.
The inquiries showed that, while some progress has been made, the progress is slow, and NSW Health has shown a “lack of urgency” despite acknowledging the problems with the health system.
In the September sitting weeks, Dr Joe launched his Rural Health Action Plan to move along the stalled process of fixing the health system.
It is a commonsense plan that will be focusing on some of the waste under the current system, including the reliance on expensive short-term solutions like fly-in fly-out doctors, which is costing $270 million a year. I will be giving the plan my full support.
There are six main points to Joe’s plan:
1. Every town should have access to a known and trusted GP - flexible, team-based models and train a local workforce, a doctor from a larger town might serve several smaller communities.
2. Births closer to home - the restoration of rural maternity services.
3. More reliance on local staff rather than fly-ins, the millions wasted on locums can be better spent elsewhere.
4. Local voices local power- better community consultation on local health.
5. The appointment of a dedicated rural health commissioner.
6. One integrated system with medical services working together.
