World class rural healthcare, closer to home
We are committed to delivering safe, high-quality, and accessible healthcare for people living in rural and remote communities, closer to where they live and with respect for culture, diversity, and individual needs.
Why this matters
People in rural and remote areas face unique challenges in accessing care, including distance, limited transport, and service availability. Providing world-class rural health care means strengthening services within our region to ensure people do not miss out on the care they need because of where they live.
By focusing on inclusive and culturally safe services for Aboriginal people and other priority populations, we reduce inequities, improve outcomes, and strengthen trust in the health system.
What we will do
Co-design and deliver services with Aboriginal people and priority populations so care reflects their needs, values and experiences. Strengthen cultural safety, equity, and inclusion through a skilled workforce, Aboriginal leadership, and cultural governance.
Embed anti-racism and trauma-informed care and ensure respectful, equitable access and outcomes for Aboriginal people, people with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, young people, older people, carers, survivors of sexual abuse, people with mental illness or drug and alcohol dependence, and those in remote areas.
Deliver safe, high-quality, and comprehensive care that spans prevention, early intervention, emergency care, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, aged care, and palliative care.
Strengthen safety systems and rural-adapted evidence-based models. Expand access to innovative care, including clinical trials and new delivery approaches, to provide care closer to home.
Design person and family-centred care that responds to people’s needs from conception to end of life. Align and connect pathways across life stages, supported by accessible entry points, care navigation, and culturally safe services. Engage patients, carers, and families as active partners, with outcomes and experiences routinely measured and improved.
Improve access to core services in rural and remote communities through innovative, hybrid in-person and virtual models. Strengthen allied health, mental health, drug and alcohol, diagnostic, palliative, and chronic disease services using virtual, outreach and mobile options.
Strengthen connections across primary, community, hospital, and aged care services to deliver smooth transitions and reduce duplication. Embed integrated internal clinical networks and external partnerships with the Primary Health Network (PHN), Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), Aboriginal health organisations and Local Councils. Use shared pathways, care coordination roles, and digital tools to ensure joined-up, safe, and consistent care for people with complex needs.
Expand access to specialist care services that deliver complex or condition-specific expertise across the district through sustainable, locally available services supported by outreach, hybrid and virtual models.
Build workforce capacity, strengthen partnerships with tertiary centres, and ensure continuity between local and metropolitan services.
Develop and scale community-based acute care and virtual care models that reduce avoidable emergency department presentations and hospital stays.
Build on initiatives such as VirtualKIDs, VirtualADULTS, Virtual Psychiatry Hub, urgent care, hospital in the home, connected care in the community, and remote monitoring, supported by strong partnerships with primary care, paramedicine, and community organisations.
Support older people, people with frailty, dementia, or complex disability through coordinated, compassionate care across hospital, community, and residential care settings. Enable early conversations and planning for ageing and aged care, strengthen access to geriatric specialists and multidisciplinary teams, and support functional independence and quality of life.
Focus on smooth transitions, including from hospital to home or aged care, to reduce avoidable admissions and improve experiences of care. As both a provider and partner in aged care, we will strengthen the interface between health and aged care systems.
What success will look like
- Improved access to services across the region, enabling more people to receive safe, local care and reducing the need, where possible, to travel outside the District.
- Improvement in patient experience, particularly for Aboriginal people and other priority populations through inclusive and culturally safe care.
- Reduced avoidable emergency presentations and hospital stays with more people receiving timely support through community, home-based, and virtual enabled care.
- Growth in specialist services across Western NSW, delivered via sustainable and innovative models of care.
- Increased participation in clinical trials and research activity across rural facilities, strengthening innovation and improving access to new treatments.
- Strong partnerships and coordination across primary, hospital, aged care, and community providers, delivering smoother transitions and reduced duplication.
- Older people and those with complex needs receive earlier assessment, coordinated transitional care, and improved access to multidisciplinary and geriatric services.
- Improved timeliness of care, including in emergency departments, planned surgery, and outpatient settings.
- Continued reduction in hospital-acquired complications and preventable harm, supported by robust safety and quality systems.
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