Final report on rural health reform tabled

The Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional health have published its third and final report on health reform in the NSW Parliament and have asked and answered very important question. "Have the last two years of health reform resulted in meaningful change for the many people living in remote, rural and regional communities in NSW?" The recently published report found that the communities in question continue to face significant challenges in accessing health services, with current governance arrangements between the state and federal governments not addressing the challenges in the delivery of primary care for rural, remote and regional communities across the state. The third and final report from the Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health was tabled in the NSW Parliament last week with the report focusing specifically on areas of health reform that they say requires work between the state and federal governments as well as consultation between rural, remote and regional communities and the government. "Across the Committee's three inquiries, we've found that the progress reported by NSW Health continues to be at odds with what communities and health workers are experiencing on the ground," Committee chair Dr Joe McGirr said. "There is a clear need for ongoing accountability measures to address the persistent issues that we continue to see in relation to remote, rural and regional health." In the report there was a set of recommendations that the Committee said paves a pathway for reform that includes key priorities and next steps to ensure continued oversight of health needs including: - the establishment of an independent NSW Remote, Rural and Regional Health Commissioner that can oversee NSW Health's implementation of reforms - funding and implementation of the health precinct model - shared governance arrangements between Local Health Districts and Primary Health Networks to support effective collaboration, information sharing and joint planning at the local level - monitoring mechanisms, including continued reporting to the NSW Parliament every six months on the progress of recommendations and additional performance audits in relation to key priority areas. The Committee was established two years ago to monitor the implementation of recommendations handed down in the 2022 Legislative Council report which made 44 recommendations for health reform in rural and regional communities. The Committee examined the recommendations throughout three inquiries with their first report focusing on workforce, workplace culture and funding in the regional health system. The Committee's second report examined the delivery of specific health services and specialist care in remote, rural and regional NSW. The Select Committee included Dr McGirr, Janelle Saffin MP, Clayton Barr MP, Liza Butler MP, Justin Clancy MP, Trish Doyle MO and Tanya Thompson MP.