From the Mayor's Desk: A need for more medical professionals
Published on 05 July 2021
As many of us are aware, there is a need for medical professionals in country NSW. This is why Council has been advocating and working with various groups to address the shortage of practicing doctors in South West Rocks.
Until recently, South West Rocks was listed as one of the Australian Government’s Distribution Priority Areas. This is a scheme that identifies areas where there is a shortage of doctors and promotes these areas to international general practitioner graduates.
Unfortunately that status has been taken away and this has really impacted the access to health services in South West Rocks by limiting the ability to bring doctors to the town. Looking at the big picture, this has a flow-on effect on the availability of doctors in Kempsey as South West Rocks residents need to travel to access health providers.
Recently I wrote to local Federal MP Pat Conaghan, advocating the Distribution Priority Area status be reinstated for South West Rocks. Through conversations with him I know he is very aware of the community position.
A group I am proud to be part of is the Country Mayors Association, who lobby for balance in regional and rural Councils and their city equivalents. We met in May and one of the recommendations from this meeting was a need to call on the State Government to establish a Ministry for Regional and Rural Health. This would drive urgent improvements in healthcare that country NSW receive comparable health services to their larger counterparts.
I’m also proud of our local community who are extremely active in advocating with Kempsey Shire Council and stakeholders to acknowledge issues affecting the quality of life in the Macleay Valley. In particular the Voices of South West Rocks group have been instrumental in actively discussing medical access in South West Rocks and they have my thanks and support.
Now more than ever, health is a hugely important issue for our region and everyone at Council will be supportive of any reasonable action undertaken to attract and retain general practitioners to South West Rocks and the wider community.