A lack of staff at Dubbo Hospital is meaning young children with developmental problems are slipping through the cracks as paediatric services suffer.
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With recruitment at both Dubbo and Orange Hospitals ongoing, the vacant roles in the health services' Paediatric Outpatient Clinics have been identified as hard-to-fill, critical roles.
A spokesperson for Western NSW Local Health District told the Daily Liberal to combat this, the positions are being advertised with incentives applied under the NSW Health Workforce Incentive Scheme.
"Attracting and retaining the required workforce in regional areas, particularly specialist clinicians, remains an ongoing challenge across Australia," the spokesperson said.
"To ensure impact to services is minimised as much as possible agency and temporary staff, including locum clinicians, are also regularly engaged where required."
Royal Far West, an organisation that has been actively involved in supporting the Dubbo community for almost a century, has recently been examining the troubling trends in children's access to healthcare.
Royal Far West, Chief Executive Officer, Jacqueline Emery has expressed her concern over the complexity of challenges faced by families during and after the pandemic, leading to a lack of capacity to support children with developmental issues adequately.
"The additional stresses families have faced in recent years have exacerbated the lack of capacity for families to support kids with developmental challenges," she said.
"Families are frustrated and feeling hopeless due to the inability to access much-needed help where they live."
The impact of these challenges on children's well-being has been evident, with a significant increase in the number of children seeking access to psychiatry services.
Paediatrician shortages have exacerbated the situation, as almost every paediatrician in rural and remote areas across the state has closed their books, leaving families with limited or no access to paediatric care.
Dubbo itself is facing a long wait list for paediatric services.
The WNSWLHD spokesperson said Paediatric Outpatients Clinics at Dubbo and Orange health services remain open to new and existing patients.
The clinics provide specialist, outpatient services for children with medical, developmental or behavioural problems who require specialist care but do not need to be admitted to hospital.
"However, both clinics continue to experience significant and sustained demand due to the level of new referrals being received, which is amplified by ongoing staff vacancies," the spokesperson said.
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"As such, new referrals are triaged and prioritised based on urgency and acute clinical need."
Ms Emery stressed the importance of early intervention, noting that 90 per cent of a child's brain development occurs by the age of five.
"We need to work together to provide the best chance for these children's healthy development," she said.
The WNSWLHD spokesperson said affordable and timely access to quality child development services is a "whole-of-sector responsibility" shared by the public health system, private providers, primary care and funded, non-government organisations (NGOs).
"The District actively works with its paediatric colleagues to ensure children are seen in a timely fashion, and encourages doctors and other services to ensure they are referring patients to the most appropriate service to minimise wait times," they said.
"The District continues to work extensively to improve referral pathways and access to services, and minimise wait times for children and young people."
This includes the trial of a holistic program designed to streamline management of behavioural issues and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Western NSW is one of two local health districts in the state undertaking the three-year trial, which will provide dedicated diagnosis services and shared-care with GPs to improve the timeliness of assessment and treatment for children, and increase system capacity overall.
NSW Health provides funding to Royal Far West to deliver and provide a Paediatric Development Program for at-risk children who require additional support for their developmental needs in rural and remote NSW.
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