Hospital staff under pressure, long wait times for specialists and GPs and inadequate mental health support are the healthcare issues that are troubling voters in the Bega electorate.
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That was the message from about 40 people at a health roundtable in Tathra on Wednesday evening, February 22, that was organised by the Greens.
Dr Amanda Cohn, a GP from Albury/Wodonga and Green Upper House candidate, said it was a really lively discussion which she enjoyed.
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"Some of the issues raised were similar things I am hearing across the state.
"For example you have a lovely new hospital in Bega but staff are under pressure and there are really long waiting times to see specialists and GPs," Dr Cohn said.
Specific to this area however, there is concern about inadequate post-natural disaster support.
"From a psychologist's perspective, there was excellent support in the immediate aftermath but not years after when the impacts are still being felt," she said.
ACT academic and GP Peter Tait and local psychologist Nadine Hills also spoke at the forum which was facilitated by Cathy Griff, Greens candidate for Bega.
Healthcare needs changing
Dr Cohn said she thinks healthcare services are gradually getting worse.
"If we don't have major government reform I am worried that we will have an increasingly fragmented and privatised system which makes it harder for people to get the care they need, when they need it, and affordably as well."
She said there is good data to show that people's needs are getting more complex with growing cases of comorbidity, whereby a person has two or medical conditions at the same time, and increasing mental health illness from people who have been isolated through COVID.
Dr Cohn flew to Sydney on Thursday morning to speak at a NSW Youth Action Election Forum and was then travelling further north to listen and speak to communities as she did in Tathra in the lead up to the state election.
"I have given up medical practice to campaign," she said.
"From my perspective, the healthcare system is so broken I can't continue to go to work every day without making this push for reform."
The NSW Greens announced its rural and regional healthcare package policy on February 8.
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