A NSW parliamentary inquiry will investigate whether healthcare in regional, rural and remote areas has improved, since a scathing upper house committee report delivered last year found it was “failing residents”.
Key points:
- The new inquiry will focus on workforce issues, workplace culture and funding
- Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr will act as chair
- A review was one of 44 recommendations made following the initial NSW parliamentary inquiry
In May 2022, the committee made 44 recommendations for change, to help address doctor shortages and workplace bullying allegations.
The sixth recommendation was that, within two years of its findings, another committee be tasked with checking if anything had improved.
A committee of seven Lower House MPs has now been established to scrutinise three particular issues at the forefront of the original inquiry’s investigations — workforce issues, workplace culture and funding.
Committee chair and independent MP Joe McGirr said it was an important next step.
“The purpose of this committee is to make sure that the recommendations made by the upper house inquiry that they are in fact being implemented,” Dr McGirr said.
Closer scrutiny
The first inquiry concluded that people living outside cities had poorer health outcomes, greater incidents of chronic disease and premature deaths.
A few weeks after it delivered its recommendations to then Premier Dominic Perrottet, the Coalition government announced a $4.5 billion package to hire 10,000 doctors, nurses and other health staff across the state.
Many of these roles include relocation expenses and bonuses for working in more remote areas.
Dr McGirr said it was important to assess if the package had been successful.
“That is still the number one issue facing remote, rural, regional services — how do we have the health professionals we need to provide the services our communities need?” Dr McGirr said.
“The government announced incentives. Are they working, are we getting on top of this or are we still facing huge challenges? I don’t think it’s too early to see results.”
‘Culture of fear’
The original inquiry also highlighted a “culture of fear” among healthcare staff around speaking out about under-resourcing, mismanagement, bullying or harassment.
It recommended an independent review be conducted into workplace culture, including complaints management and whistleblower protections.
The then Coalition government ruled out a review, saying avenues to lodge complaints were already in place.
Dr McGirr said these concerns would be central to the new inquiry, to see whether workplaces have improved.
“We don’t want to go over that old ground, what we need to do is look at: are the solutions working?” he said.
“We’ll focus on that and we’ll make sure that’s what we’re … collecting information on.”
The new inquiry is set to table its first report in late 2023.
The ABC has contacted the NSW Health Minister Ryan Park for a response.