SCOTT Griffiths has been appointed for his second term as chair of the Western NSW Local Health District and says he wants to continue improving access to care.
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Mr Griffiths became chair in January 2017 and Minister for Health Brad Hazzard recently appointed him for another two-and-a half years to lead the board.
The Orange resident who spent most of his working career in Dubbo, said it was a privilege.
“I’ve always had that interest in human services so when the opportunity came up to participate on the board [eight years ago], I jumped at it,” he said.
For the past two years, Mr Griffiths said the board had been concerned with introducing an Indigenous health plan to close the gap, as well as strategic plans for the district.
“If you go back 20 years, most of the specialised clinicians were fly-in, fly-out – now we have high-quality clinicians living in the district.”
- Scott Griffiths
He said video conferencing technology to put smaller hospitals in touch with specialists in larger ones, such as Orange, had been received well.
“It’s already up and we continue to improve it,” he said.
“If you go back 20 years, most of the specialised clinicians were fly-in, fly-out – now we have high-quality clinicians living in the district.”
He said future efforts would be made to maximise capabilities in smaller hospitals, with a focus on renal units so patients would not have to travel as far.
“It’s so people can get dialysis, which unfortunately has been increasing across the district,” he said.
He said the cancer unit under construction at Dubbo Base Hospital would be a first because usually districts only had one unit and Western LHD would have two.
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