6th February 2002 Alarming health statistics revealed

The hub of Lightning Ridge's health services, the Accident and Emergency Centre

Residents in rural communities have every reason to express anger at the staggering statistics the city media is presenting concerning the critical health conditions throughout the western region. When we read that 40 percent of the 50,462 patients who await elective surgery in NSW are from rural NSW we must question the intent of the neglect and disrespect shown the area.

These figures have increased up to 1400 in just one month.

It is an ongoing battle for smaller hospitals to maintain their right to treat patients with cutbacks a regular reality whilst base hospitals struggle with fewer beds and staff.

February 10 to 17 is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Week which reveals another sombre fact. This disease is killing one Australian woman every 10 hours.

Whilst the Pap Smear test has halved the incidence of cervical cancer there is no screening test available for ovarian cancer.

Early detection and symptom awareness is vital when the ratio of deaths to new cases of ovarian cancer is an alarming 71 percent.

Medical staff in areas such as Lightning Ridge struggle to meet the health needs of patients and despite the position for a Womens Health Worker being advertised it remains unfilled. Again the expectations placed upon existing staff is far too great.

There are many aged residents amongst those who await elective surgery. For these persons the wait is compounded by the worry of just when they will get treated or last minute cancellation of appointments.

In May last year well known local identity Olwyn Johnston was appointed as the first nurse practitioner at Wanaaring in the State's far west.

This appointment was heralded as the beginning of a new era in bush nursing. Since then nine nurses have qualified as Nurse Practitioners whose training allowed them to prescribe certain drugs and refer patients.

Ironically, these qualified nurse practitioners have been unable to secure positions. It seems putting this training to good use may have alleviated some of the rural shortage problems. However, it also appears that this should involve a thorough consultative process between the nurse practitioners, doctors and governments to determine how best they can become part of a team serving the identified needs of a community.

Choosing to live in a particular area of NSW, remote or otherwise, should not be part of the process for determining the quality of services delivered to an area.

Choice of residence should be closely linked with an expectation of equal treatment, anything short of this is unacceptable. Like so many other issues the Ridge faces, remoteness appears to place us at a disadvantage.