Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan has backed growing concerns from rural communities, nurses and local councils on the ever-increasing reliance on virtual emergency department care in regional hospitals.
As reported in The Land this week, the use of telehealth services is widespread across regional and rural NSW with many healthcare workers lamenting the over-reliance on computers has heaped more pressure on already overworked nurses.
Mr Moylan said since entering Parliament in 2024, he had been warning that telehealth and virtual emergency care were being used as a substitute for properly staffing country hospitals, rather than as a support tool.
“Virtual care has a place in supporting healthcare delivery, particularly in isolated communities, but it is not a replacement for having a real doctor physically present in an emergency department,” Mr Moylan said.
“I have been arguing this non-stop since 2024. If someone enters an emergency department after a farm machinery injury, a heart attack, a motor vehicle crash or snake bite, they deserve proper face to face medical care, not a laptop on a trolley.”
Mr Moylan said recent testimony from rural nurses, mayors and medical professionals confirmed what regional communities had been experiencing for years; the NSW Labor Government is failing country NSW on healthcare.
“Regional people are being asked to accept a far lower standard of healthcare than what people in Sydney would ever tolerate,” he said.
“If a metropolitan hospital announced there would be no doctor on site and patients would instead speak to a doctor over video, there would be outrage. But Labor expects our communities to simply accept it.”
Mr Moylan said the Minns Labor Government needed to stop commissioning inquiries and start implementing the recommendations already handed down by the parliamentary inquiry into rural and regional healthcare.
“The recommendations are there. The evidence is there, and we are crying out for help,” he said.
“Instead of action, regional NSW continues to get excuses, workforce shortages and more reliance on virtual care.”
Mr Moylan said the key question regional communities should ask themselves is simple.
“Has healthcare in regional NSW got better or worse since Labor came to power in March 2023?” he said.
“For too many communities emergency departments are under pressure, hospitals are struggling to recruit staff, and patients are travelling further for care than ever before.
“Country communities deserve properly staffed hospitals, long-term workforce solutions and equitable healthcare, not second-rate services delivered through a computer screen.”
Media Release: Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan
