Health worker Georgina Rosee has been appointed to represent the Central Coast on the new Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel.
Rosee has worked within Central Coast Local Health District for 29 years, starting her career as an occupational therapist as a new graduate in 1993.
“Apart from a few years off to have my children, I have worked with the health district for almost 30 years and have certainly seen a few changes in that time,” she said.
“Over that time worked across a variety of clinical settings, including in-patients, rehab and in the in community.
“During the past 10 years I transitioned to managing some of those teams and now manage the Allied Health Team, seeing people in their own homes throughout the district.
“At the moment I am also Acting Director of Allied Health and I am really loving it.”
Over the past 18 months, Rosee has also had the responsibility of rolling out the COVID vaccination program for Central Coast Health.
“That has been an amazing, stressful experience – providing this once-in-a-lifetime service,” she said.
“We worked closely with the Primary Health Network, other departments and charity organisations to roll the program out coast-wide.
“I really enjoyed doing something completely different.
“It really fed into my passion of working with vulnerable populations.
“We set up services with social housing services and community centres as well as hospital clinics.”
Rosee said the Government was working hard to hear the voices of stakeholders in formulating health policy.
“When this opportunity came up I felt we needed a Central Coast voice and put my hand up because I feel I have something to add to a regional panel,” she said.
“Being a country girl originally, and a Central Coast resident for almost 30 years, I felt I was well positioned to do it.
“I feel quite stoked and surprised to have been selected and feel honoured to be representing the most amazing group of staff.
“Over the past couple of years they have really stepped up during a challenging situation for health; many doing double shifts and working weekends, as well as stepping into clinical situations to help out.
“We really had to flip our health services and create new services to make sure patients were safe while still getting the care they needed”
Rosee said she hoped to make the most of her position on the panel to celebrate the success Central Coast Health has had in working collaboratively with various government departments and private services in the region.
“I would like to see our good work recognised at that level,” she said.
“The Central Coast is unique in that it is positioned between two major centres – Sydney and Newcastle.
“There are advantages in having those facilities close but it also presents some challenges.
“We have a growing population, particularly in the north of the region and attracting and retaining health staff has always been a problem in the regions.
“We have a number of ageing GPs which is difficult from workforce point of view and are fighting two metro areas on either side of us (for staff).
“I will be advocating for what the Coast needs now and into the future.
“I will be stressing that we are a unique regional area with various challenges and I want to ensure we don’t miss out.”
Chaired by Richard Colbran, CEO of the NSW Rural Doctors Network, the panel will advise the Minister for Regional Health, the Secretary of NSW Health and the Coordinator-General of the Regional Health Division on opportunities and solutions to improve healthcare, hospital and support services in regional NSW.
Regional Health Minister, Bronnie Taylor, said she will work closely with the panel to create a new regional health plan, which will be released later this year.
“A key focus of the panel will be to identify and outline a broader vision and action plan for strengthening the rural and regional health system in NSW,” she said.
The announcement of the creation of the panel coincides with the NSW Government finalising its response to the Rural Health Inquiry, reaffirming its commitment to improve health outcomes for all people living in rural, regional and remote NSW.
“It is my absolute priority to ensure that, no matter where you live in our state, you have access to the health services that you need and deserve,” Taylor said.
“We know that almost all patients who pass through our rural and regional hospitals and health services have a positive outcome.
“However, it was important to hear directly from those on the ground, including patients, their families, health staff and communities, about where we need to address issues in our health system and also build on the NSW Government’s ongoing commitment to best practice healthcare and reform; that is what this Inquiry has achieved.”
The NSW Government supports or supports in principle 41 of the 44 recommendations with work already underway to address many of these.
Terry Collins