Communities within the Snowy Monaro Local Government Area can have their say on the future health needs with Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) inviting input on an updated clinical services plan for the region.

The input has involved face-to-face drop-in consultations, completing an online survey, or sharing ideas and feedback with its planning team via email or post. The on-line survey component is open until the end of December.

The Snowy Monaro Clinical Services Plan will set out the priorities for service development and reform over the next five to 10 years.

The plan will include Cooma District Hospital, Bombala Multi Purpose Service (MPS), Delegate, and Jindabyne HealthOne, as well as a range of community, mental health and allied health services.

Development of the plan takes into account population growth and demographics, health risk factors, service activity trends, patient flows, benchmarking with other services, and collaboration with staff, community and other stakeholders.

In late November, the SNSWLHD team was on the road talking to locals to shape the Snowy Monaro Clinical Services Plan.

The team heard that in a small community such as Delegate, the residents of Delegate, Bendoc and surrounding communities faced a number of challenges relating to medical services and the limited opportunities of accessing regional health care.

Lack of transport to and from health services was a key issue raised, with a discussion about the potential virtual health care offers.

Another issue was whether or not the MPS at Delegate was closing.

“There’s been some back and forth about this, but we have said there’s no discussion in place about closing the MPS and the importance of residents from Victoria accessing Delegate for the community health services was also discussed,” health service planner - SNSWLHD, Rebecca Moon, said.

Similarly, community workshops were held in Bombala, Jindabyne and Cooma.

“They were very passionate community members who attended the workshops.”

“We were able to obtain a lot of feedback from those who were present,” Ms Moon said.

The responses from the sessions consisted of a common theme, mostly in relation to affordable transport options, lack of knowledge about what services are available and where, particularly the outreach services from Cooma and the communication of services available locally (potentially Cooma or Bega, instead of travelling to Canberra).

“We have set up some services at the smaller sites but people were not generally aware they had started there so there needs to be more communication around this,” Ms Moon said.

“We have to look at ways to get that messaging out to improve communication to residents of what’s available in the district.

“A surgical services directory is almost finalised, which we send out every year to GPs. We need to make residents aware they can ask their GP if something is available locally.”

Ms Moon said there were also huge concerns about access to aged care services locally.

“Issues like having a residential aged-care bed but also access to a respite bed, especially with the closure of Snowy River Hostel in Berridale, access to older person services like a geriatrician available, podiatry services Bombala and Cooma lost the free access to the podiatrist so now it’s only private - were some of these issues,” Ms Moon said.

At Jindabyne those who attended the workshop had concerns about the lack of acute care services, especially after hours.

“We do understand that, as the population is increasing and because of all the activity in the area,” Ms Moon said.

Increasing medical services during peak periods was also raised.

“It was really good discussion at all workshop sites; everyone was saying the same thing essentially at every meeting. This helps to reinforce they are valid concerns.

“We are very appreciative of those who have provided feedback,” Ms Moon said.

If you missed these local sessions but have something to share, a survey can be completed on the SNSWLHD website, or send an email to SNSWLHD-YourFeedback@health.nsw.gov.au, or post a letter to Southern NSW Local Health District, PO Box 1845, Queanbeyan, NSW 2620.