The Royal Far West (RFW) children’s health service CEO Jacqui Emery visited Cobar and Bourke last week to get a better understanding of how children’s services are working together.
RFW’s focus is on helping 3-12 year olds who have been identified with developmental challenges and creating a pathway of care for them with RFW’s allied health staff.
“Obviously we’ve got a long history of working in a lot of towns in the west but we only want to be where there are gaps and of course we know those gaps are really increasing,” Ms Emery told The Cobar Weekly.
RFW has received confirmation from public and private paediatricians in Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth and Bega that their books are either closed, or some children are waiting up to four years for an appointment.
Ms Emery said the increasing need for ongoing RFW specialist paediatric and psychiatric care (following the impacts of Covid, cumulative natural disasters and increasing mental health challenges), coupled with many paediatricians closing their books or having long wait lists in rural NSW, has meant an increased demand for RFW’s services.
She said while the RFW assessment and diagnosis service has been successfully operating in Manly for many years, they’d like to work with NSW Health to create a hub in Dubbo which would bring a range of paediatric services into regional areas.
“So basically we come to you as opposed to everyone coming to us in Manly,” Ms Emery said.
“We’re exploring those possibilities now and obviously we would need some additional funding to support that but we certainly have a great commitment from our staff and also paediatricians in regional areas to get some more support from RFW,” she said.
