Desperate wait: families grapple with paediatric care shortage

Since moving to Tamworth, she says getting appointments now takes anywhere from 18 months to two years.

She counts herself lucky, as without a diagnosis it can take parents in Tamworth up to six years to get paediatric appointments at public clinics for developmental or behavioural referrals.

"They used to not call you to tell you your referrals were going out of date, so you'd finally get to an appointment and they'd have to cancel it until you could see a GP again, so you'd go back to the start of the waitlist," Ms Cullinan said.

She says her family has never been able to get emergency paediatric care at Tamworth hospital's paediatric clinic.

"Xaves at one point had a bad heart murmur with his medication. He was supposed to be seen every three months, but we had to wait 18 months to see somebody," Ms Cullinan said.

Though times have gotten easier as Xavier gets older - he can now see his GP more often than a paediatrician and just got a place in a multi-categorical class at Oxley High - Ms Cullinan says her heart goes out to any parent still in the "crap fight" of finding paediatric care.

"Some scripts need approval from both the paediatrician and the GP, so you end up on a medication waitlist too. It's ridiculous," she says.

"If this was a heart condition no one would have to wait."

Other families the Leader spoke with on condition of anonymity expressed mounting frustration with the lack of services.

Another mother from Tamworth said it was a huge struggle to get her son on the NDIS, and even now that support could easily go to waste.

"Our son has NDIS funding and is probably not going to have spent his 'budget' in the time frame they gave us because of the lack of specialists and services," she said.

One mother from Gunnedah says she skips Tamworth's paediatric clinic entirely and sees Dr Keith Power at Armidale hospital for her son's ADHD.

Dr Power recently announced he wiould be retiring, which the young mum said was a "big blow to my family".

"We are on wait lists from here to Sydney and are now looking further south towards Melbourne. The lack of paediatricians in the area is so sad and something needs to be done," she said.

Her voice joins many others across NSW calling on the state government to solve the shortage of paediatricians and other doctors in regional areas.

NSW health minister Ryan Park told ACM he recognises the challenges many regional families face in getting paediatric appointments but would not commit to opening new clinics.

Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson told the Leader he also acknowledged the widespread challenge and it was important to "keep pressing on" to get more paediatric specialists.

"It's a real challenge to attract paediatric clinicians to any regional area and Tamworth is no different," Mr Anderson said.

"What we've got to do is continue that recruitment process. We've got to continue to shine the light on the benefits Tamworth has to offer, not only professionally, but personally as well."

Tamworth hospital has recently recruited three additional paediatric specialists in a bid to reduce waiting times for appointments.

Hunter New England Health did not answer a question from the Leader asking how many paediatricians currently work in Tamworth hospital's paediatric clinic.

A spokesperson for Hunter New England Health said the district "continues to work toward improving access to services and minimise wait times for children and young people".

"This includes the trial of a holistic program designed to streamline management of behavioural issues and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children between 6 to 12 years."

The spokesperson said an outreach clinic would soon be established in Tamworth as part of this program.

Hunter New England will be one of two local health districts in NSW undertaking the three-year trial, which aims to shorten wait times by providing dedicated diagnosis services and shared care with GPs.

"The paediatric outpatient clinic at Tamworth remains open to new and existing patients and provides specialist, outpatient services for children with medical, developmental or behavioural problems who require specialist care but do not need to be admitted to hospital," the spokesperson said.

"New referrals are triaged and prioritised based on urgency and acute clinical need.

"Families in the Hunter and New England regions can also access specialist care closer to home through the virtualKIDS Urgent Care Service via referral from healthdirect (1800 022 222), following the state-wide expansion of the program in January."

For more coverage of ACM's campaign to increase paediatric services in NSW visit here.