The group is highlighting this issue as part of their annual awareness week and said it was up to all levels of government, stakeholders and communities to fight for better health services in regional areas. 

Areas the CWA says need addressing immediately include a shortage of general practitioners (GPs), difficulty in recruiting specialists and a shortage of mental health services. 

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Several of those areas do apply to Leeton, particularly the last two. 

While the Leeton District Hospital has implemented a midwifery-led model of care for birthing low-risk babies, the town still needs an obstetrician. 

There are also little options in Leeton for those wanting to seek specialist mental health treatment, instead having to travel to bigger centres in order to do so. 

“The gap between what’s available in the city and what’s available in regional areas like Leeton is widening,” NSW CWA president Annette Turner said. 

“Mental health is a big one in rural areas. 

“We need more services in our regional towns, especially with the drought starting to have an impact.”

With seven million Australians living outside of city areas, the CWA said more funding needed to be allocated to regional areas when it comes to the health sector.

According to a 2017 Medical Journal of Australia report, access to medical specialists in major cities stood at 162.1 full-time equivalent specialists per 100,000 population, but diminished significantly for people living in inner or outer regional (82.7 and 61.5 per 100 000 respectively) and remote areas (34.2 per 100,000).

“We also want to be making sure our rural and regional hospitals are not being downgraded,” Mrs Turner said. 

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