Regional health crisis: Inquiry condemns NSW Health as hospital staff live with a ‘culture of fear’
Inquiry condemns NSW Health as hospital staff live with a ‘culture of fear’ The regional hospitals inquiry, sparked by a Herald investigation, raised disturbing allegations of treatment of whistleblowers and cover-ups of patient deaths.It recommended that the NSW government urgently engage with the federal government at a ministerial level to establish a plan to address workforce shortages and review the current funding model for regional local health districts.He referred questions to NSW’s new Minister for Regional Health, Bronnie Taylor, who accepted the report’s findings and said there had been situations “where we have not seen our best care delivered”.NSW AMA president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the report underscored the paucity of investment in rural health and its recommendations would not be feasible without a meaningful funding commitment from governments.