WITNESSES from selected organisations and services in the Gunnedah area will have a chance to explain the town's health crisis to committee members from a rural health inquiry when they come later this year.
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Representatives from the inquiry into health outcomes and services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales will visit Gunnedah on June 16, as part of a state-wide tour.
That will represent the only trip to the region, with the next closest locations being Wellington and Dubbo.
Between April 29 and November 3 the committee will visit 11 towns across NSW where access to adequate health care has been highlighted as a major issue.
Gunnedah has long struggled to gain and keep general practitioners, with Hunter New England Health currently in the process of selecting an operator for the Rural Health Centre which has been vacant since October 2019.
The committee chose its tour locations based off of the evidence it received from more than 700 written submissions.
"The locations we'll be going to will take us across the state," said chair of the Upper House Health Committee Greg Donnelly.
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"They've been selected based on where the written submissions have told us some of the key or recurring issues are, and in locations where invited witnesses can travel to more easily if they're a little further out."
The inquiry heard from 12 health and medical organisations during its first meeting in Sydney.
However, its members have acknowledged an understanding of the problems cannot be gained without speaking to those in rural areas.
"To ensure we're doing this important issue justice and gathering all the evidence we can, we now need to get out and hear from the people, the organisations and the services that are based in the rural, regional and remote areas that are the subject of this work," said Mr Donnelly.
Only invited witnesses will be able to meet with the committee members, but others who are interested can find full details, including hearing transcripts, at the NSW parliament website.
The other towns being visited which haven't been mentioned are Deniliquin, Cobar, Taree, Lismore, Tumut, Wagga Wagga, Walgett and Broken Hill.
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