A second horror experience with the rural NSW health system has left carer Lynette Cullinan unimpressed with the state government's new plan to fix long-entrenched issues.
WARNING: This story contains graphic images
A new Regional Health Division was recently established in response to a damning state parliamentary inquiry into health services in rural and remote areas.
But Ms Cullinan, who lives at Howlong on the NSW border with Victoria, said that would do little to address the needs of her Vietnam veteran husband.
She said she wanted to see more staff and training instead.
Her husband Peter Cullinan often needs health treatment, including for a skin graft on his leg which sometimes ruptures, causing heavy bleeding.
About a month ago, Mr Cullinan's pain levels spiked.
Ms Cullinan called Albury Wodonga Health for assistance.
She said she was told to keep him still and get in touch with their general practitioner to organise a scan.
She then contacted a surgeon in Melbourne and drove her husband six hours to a hospital there for surgery.
A CT scan revealed he had fractured his pelvis.
Doctors also found "a double hernia that was about to burst".
"Why are we not having more patient transport units put on the road to keep our critical care and urgent ambulances free?" she said.
Albury Wodonga Health has been contacted for comment.
It came after another incident in January, where Ms Cullinan said they waited two hours for an ambulance, relying on help from the community to keep her husband alive.
Actions louder than words
Ms Cullinan said she was frustrated by the NSW Government's latest attempt to improve health services.
She said it did not make sense to form another committee.
"If the problem is not enough staff, let's up it," she said.
"It won't be fixed overnight, but put more resources into training."
She said the service needed to be restructured if COVID was the problem.
Ms Cullinan said patient care had deteriorated in regional hospitals and more discussion was needed with doctors and nurses after the regional health inquiry.
"What is going on within our health system that our healthcare workers don't care about the patients anymore?" she said.
"Our health workers do matter, they know what the hell has gone wrong.
"So talk to our doctors, talk to our specialists, talk to the nursing staff."
She said her main concern, healthcare issues on the border, also needed to be addressed.
She said she did not want her calls to NSW triple-0 transferred to Victoria.
"We live in NSW, we pay for the NSW service, tend to us from the NSW side," she said.
Crisis mode
NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association Albury Hospital Branch president Geoff Hudson said there was an ongoing staffing crisis but patient care had not deteriorated.
As with other branches across the state, his health workers are advocating for better ratios and working conditions.
"In Wodonga Hospital, they have a ratio of one to four, whereas in Albury NSW we don't have those same ratios," he said.
He said the ratio had been as high as one to 10.
"If you think about it, that means the nurse only has six minutes per patient per hour," he said.
Mr Hudson said funding for the cross-border Albury-Wodonga Health service came from the NSW and Victorian governments.
He said it was administered as a Victorian system in terms of regulations, but staff were paid based on what state they were in.
Despite some issues in the cross-border region, Mr Hudson said he did not think there was a better alternative model.
"It's really not two separate towns," he said.
"It's one town with a river running through the middle of it and unfortunately a state border as well," he said.
"I don't see it being realistic to have any other kind of model."
NSW Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor did not comment specifically on Ms Cullinan's case.
She said the Regional Health Division was created in consultation with local health districts and would work to address cross-border issues.
"They're complex and they're challenging and that's why having this focus on rural and regional health to all work together to make sure it's driven from the top."
