A state parliamentary inquiry set to start next month has received a number of concerning submissions from Griffith residents.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Griffith healthcare campaigner Brendan Catanzariti welcomed the inquiry into health outcomes and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales which is due to begin March 19 in Sydney.
However, he stressed that the health care workers are not the root of the issue.
"The staff that work in the hospital are doing the most amazing job. The clinicians, the nurses the allied health are the ones that have kept the hospital together," Mr Catanzariti said.
"It's all about the resources, getting staff here and the building of the new hospital attracting better staff.
"NSW Health is Wagga focused. We have to fight for every single thing we get here."
Three years ago Mr Catanzariti campaigned on behalf of the Griffith community to save Griffith Base Hospital from being downgraded by NSW Health.
He says, had the downgrade succeeded it would have been a disaster for the growing Griffith community.
"Without a doubt there would have been deaths due to the hospital downgrading because without specialists, surgeons, pediatricians and all the resources we have at this hospital it would have been catastrophic for our region," Mr Catanzariti said.
"The thing is we have more industry and farming than Wagga has, we need the services here."
One anonymous submission contributed to the inquiry from the Griffith catchment stated that they were asked at Griffith Base Hospital to bring in their own bandages for dressings as the hospital had none.
Member for Murray Helen Dalton has weighed in with a submission to the inquiry citing funding determining life expectancy, mental health support and lack of orthopaedic services in her electorate.
"I welcome this urgent inquiry into the appalling state of rural health," Mrs Dalton said.
"The fact that geography now determines life outcomes may be linked to the systemic downgrading of rural health services and facilities.
"There are no orthopaedic services in any public hospitals in my electorate - an area of 107,362 square kilometres."
MORE NEWS