Coleambally mum’s desperate plea amid rural health crisis

A mother of three from a small Riverina town has spoken out about the barriers to health care for her family, ahead of a health forum in Wagga this weekend.

When it came time for her third child’s vaccinations, Coleambally mum Amanda Simpson O’Connor was forced to make a two-hour round trip to Griffith after staff shortages forced her local medical centre to close.

Her first two children had received their vaccinations at the centre, but last December when she tried to get childhood immunisations for Sophie, now eight months, she was told staff shortages had led to the closure of the centre.

“It was all good a few years ago for my son George, 5, and daughter Charlotte, 3, in getting their vaccinations and check-ups done in town,” she said.

“But when my youngest Sophie needed to do her vaccinations everything changed. It was a lot harder and we had to travel to Griffith to do the vaccinations - that’s an hour each way.

“It was hard as my son has behavioural problems and it was important for him to be looked at as well but the doctors in Griffith don’t take the time to discuss the issues like in Coleambally - it is all done in one big rush.”

The mother-of-three talked to the Wagga News about the need for better access to health care for regional and rural people, after sharing her story earlier this month at a state government health forum in Griffith.

On Saturday, the Regional Medical Specialists Association Annual Conference will be held in Wagga Wagga to again look at the issues facing rural health - such as staff shortages in hospitals and the lack of medical facilities in the Riverina.

Coleambally mother Amanda Simpson O’Connor with son George, 5, daughter Charlotte, 3 and daughter Sophie, eight months. Picture: Supplied

Riverina specialist Dr Nick Stephenson will host the forum in Wagga which he said would be a “stepping stone” in finding a solution to the list of grievances and heartbreaking stories coming out of the recent inquiry into rural, regional and remote healthcare.

Dr Stephenson said the goal of the forum was to reinforce the message that the solution to rural health was to train doctors rurally in the hope they would stay and flourish in those areas.

“I hope the conference’s theme of ‘Growing Our Own and Establishing New Services’ resonates with all those at the conference, and that we learn new and better ways to grow the medical workforce living and working outside the capital cities, and then with that growing workforce, provide new and better services,” he said.

“Evidence shows that the best way to achieve that goal of fixing the issue is to train doctors rurally. We will be exploring these concepts in depth.”

Wagga MP Dr Joe McGirr and NSW Minister Regional Health Bronnie Taylor will be among those in attendance at the forum at Food Am I, Wagga.

“Both will come with background knowledge of the research to understand what are the issues facing rural health and we are hoping that Bronnie Taylor especially can give us a solution to the issue,” Dr Stephenson said.

“Evidence shows that the best way to achieve that goal of fixing the issue is to train doctors rurally. We will be exploring these concepts in depth,” Dr Nick Stephenson said.

Griffith branch secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Kristy Williams said staff shortages were hurting nurses.

“Myself, I have to work overtime and I am getting sick and tired of it but we need to do it because of the shortages we face here at Griffith hospital ... at all levels of our hospital wards,” she said.

Ms Williams pointed out that agency nurses were being paid a premium to fill the shortfalls.

“The NSW government is saying there is no money for nurses to get any decent pay increase, yet they are paying an absolute premium for agency nurses to fill shortfalls in our hospitals,” she said.

Griffith hospital is facing staffing shortfalls according to the nurses’ union.

Ms Simpson O’Connor hopes forums such as these will achieve real solutions.

“The hope is that these type of forums can achieve a solution for betterment of regional health because at the moment it has been a farce,” Mrs O’Connor said.