Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie) (17:02): I move:
That this House:
(1)Notes many people living outside of metropolitan cities in New South Wales:
(a)have expressed frustration with their limited access to public health services and facilities;
(b)travel further to access vital public health care, including maternity and birthing services; and
(c)often present to New South Wales public hospitals' emergency departments later and with health conditions which could have been better treated with improved access to primary care and/or timely health care in their community.
(2)Acknowledges public health facilities, including HealthOne NSW services, and community health services help meet people's healthcare needs close to home and take pressure off New South Wales public hospitals' emergency departments.
(3)Acknowledges the New South Wales Government's investment in public health infrastructure in rural and regional communities, including as part of the Regional Health Minor Works Program, and its investment in the John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct.
(4)Supports further investment in public health services and facilities in underserviced communities outside of metropolitan cities in New South Wales.
I know it is a generous motion. However, this topic unfortunately speaks to an experience across many communities in regional, rural and remote New South Wales. It is well established that people living outside of metropolitan cities have more limited access to public health services and facilities, resulting in them travelling further for care and delaying getting treatment. But what may come as a surprise to some is that it is also the experience in the rapidly growing southern part of my electorate, in Morisset and its surrounds. That is why I am a bit parochial about the matter in this debate.
Historically, Morisset was a rural area with growth first driven by the development of the logging industry and railway, and the establishment of Morisset Hospital in the early 1900s. Fast-forward to today and Morisset, together with the supporting local centres of Cooranbong and Wyee, is one of the fastest-growing areas in the State. It has been targeted for growth by the New South Wales Government, which has identified Morisset and its surrounds as a regionally significant growth area and as a transport oriented development precinct. Importantly, the area also abuts growing northern communities on the Central Coast.
Despite this, people living in southern Lake Macquarie cannot easily access many vital public health services. To visit an emergency department, locals need to travel either to John Hunter Hospital or to Wyong Hospital, which is closer but located in another health district. We have poor public transport accessibility and the journey can easily take over an hour if you do not have access to a car. This trip is especially difficult for our growing ageing population, who may not have the ability or confidence to travel, especially when needing care. Certain services, such as dialysis, also do not extend to southern Lake Macquarie.
We also need to consider the matter of cost. People with low incomes or experiencing financial distress need access to the public health system. In the Morisset area it is hard, if not impossible, to find bulk-billing health services, if those services are available at all. Hunter New England Local Health District conducted a review of the healthcare needs of southern Lake Macquarie and, in 2024, found what locals—myself included—had long known: The current and projected demand for public health services in southern Lake Macquarie justifies providing more services close to home—tick!
From this review, we have managed to secure vital community health services operating out of the Morisset Multi-Purpose Centre, including nurse practitioner-led aged care, continence and wound care clinics. I was also joined by the Minister in September to announce that Rehab in the Home will be extended to the Southlakes area. These services provide care close to home, take pressure off families and, importantly, reduce unnecessary hospital stays by treating people before they need emergency care or getting them out of hospital sooner. We know our hospitals are under pressure and plagued by bed block.
Well-planned community health services obviously take some of the pressure off our public hospitals and I appreciate the investment and the support of the Minister for those services. I am also grateful for the investment by the New South Wales Government and engagement with the Minister. However, the community health services were only envisaged by the Hunter New England review as an interim measure before delivery of a HealthOne facility within five years at a site that could facilitate expansion into a district hospital in 10 to 15 years. Novelly, it was going to be near public transport too, which I know is really out there.
When I saw these recommendations, I thought we were finally onto something: a permanent public health presence that facilitates expansion along with the growing population and anticipated health needs of southern Lake Macquarie, and additional community health services in the interim; a genuine recognition of the patently obvious need. I thought the disconnected arms of the health system might finally speak to the proverbial brain, the brain in this case being John Hunter Hospital, where the resources and energy of the Hunter New England Local Health District are primarily focused.
Unfortunately, traction to secure HealthOne has all but stalled. This is despite the objectives of HealthOne services aligning with exactly what we need in the area, including preventing illness, improving chronic disease management, reducing avoidable hospital admissions and improving service access. Southern Lake Macquarie needs a HealthOne or other permanent facility to meet the health needs of our growing population, which includes an increasing number of ageing residents and young families. Locals are frustrated and feel as though their struggles in accessing public health care are not being taken seriously. That has to change.
I therefore call on this House to support further investment in public health services and facilities in underserviced communities outside of metropolitan cities. I am sure members in seats more rural and remote than my own will talk to the need for more investment to address the gaps they see in public health services, which are exacerbated by the tyranny of distance, chronic staffing shortages and bypass protocols. While the issues faced by regional parts of the Lake Macquarie electorate are not identical to those faced in these areas of New South Wales, I believe there is some common ground in our experience of living outside metropolitan cities and knocking on the doors of our local health districts year after year, begging for more health services closer to home.