New South Wales Regional Health Minister Bronnie Taylor says she will ask the Commonwealth to let the state government take control of the delivery of GP services.
Access to GP appointments has been one of the key issues raised during a NSW parliamentary inquiry into regional, rural and remote healthcare.
It was also among the findings and recommendations handed down by the inquiry earlier this month.
Ms Taylor said the state government should be responsible for the delivery of all health services.
"I think it creates a lot issues because you have this multi-tiered system, but people don't want to hear about the difference between federal and state.
"They just want it fixed."
Better health for the bush
Ms Taylor was at a regional health forum hosted by the Country Mayors Association in Sydney on Thursday afternoon and said she had called for talks with the Commonwealth to progress the request once the incoming federal health minister was sworn in.
"I just think in an ideal world, let's take the politics out of health and get cracking," she said.
The organisation had invited Ms Taylor to attend and explain what she was doing in response to the inquiry.
The NSW government has six months to provide its formal response.
Ms Taylor said she did not want to wait until November.
She said she had already created a division of regional health and appointed people in each local health district who would report to a newly-created coordinator-general of regional health.
Country Mayors Association chairman Ken Keith welcomed the creation of the advisory panel.
"I think there's an opportunity that we haven't had for a long time to be able to try to improve the health outcomes for people in rural and remote areas," Mr Keith said.
"There's a very positive vibe in the room that this may in fact be the moment of change.
Health watchdog
Staff concerns about the responses they would receive for raising issues about the delivery of healthcare were a key issue in submissions to the inquiry and the public hearings.
Some gave evidence that they feared backlash and repercussions for speaking out.
The inquiry has recommended the NSW government establish an independent health administration ombudsman to receive and review concerns and have the scope to review decisions relating to medical errors or deaths, staff blacklisting and bullying or harassment of whistleblowers.
"How we respond to the report will be done in the correct way and [with] the correct process taking place, and that has to go to cabinet before I can say anything about any recommendations that are going to be considered and taken up," Ms Taylor said.
But she said she personally was not convinced an ombudsman was necessary.
"Is an ombudsman the right way to go? I really couldn't answer that for you," she said.
She said the division of rural and regional health and a new coordinator-general would help achieve that goal.
"I think if these workforce issues had been easy to address someone would have done them regardless of what their political stripes are," she said.
"They're multi factorial and they're really challenging."
