Country kids are set to benefit from a funding boost of $369,000 to a charity dedicated to supporting children living in rural and remote NSW with complex developmental needs.
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The funding will enable Royal Far West's Child and Family Services to help more families living in regional areas access multi-disciplinary clinical assessment, diagnosis, planning, and referral to the specialist care they need for their children.
Minister for Health Ryan Park recognised that the charity delivered a targeted program for rural and remote children with complex developmental needs who cannot access local services.
"In many parts of rural areas across NSW, families face challenges when it comes to getting an appointment with a paediatrician, and it is vital that these families have early intervention for their developmental issues," Mr Park said.
"While work is ongoing to deliver long-term solutions to this challenging issue, the boost to the RFW program is important, as it will enable them to employ more paediatricians to assist more children and their families."
CEO Jacqueline Emery said RFW, established in 1924 and celebrating 100 years of service this year, was a vital part of the health infrastructure in rural NSW.
"The additional funding recognises the increasing complexity we are seeing, coupled with the worrying ongoing situation in paediatric out-patient services that is continuing to unfold across rural and remote NSW," Ms Emery said.
"The children we see require a lot more from our current service - they are developing more complex needs, and we see that due to a range of factors.
"So our usual assessment process is taking longer to try and unpick all those factors to provide the right diagnosis for the children we see."
Ms Emery said in the past, about 90 per cent of the children who had gone through RFW's assessment and diagnosis service could be transferred to local health services.
"There is such a shortage of local paediatricians and allied health services that we have to hold children longer in our service to ensure they get the care they need.
"So this was vital funding to support the children already accessing our service more adequately.
"We have been able to allocate those dollars to additional paediatric hours to support those needs."
NSW Health has jointly funded the longstanding program for many years, which, in the financial year 2022/23, supported more than 450 children.
The program complements the services available within local health districts, helping to address complex developmental issues and design therapy plans for children to help improve their overall health and developmental trajectory.
RFW has provided early childhood intervention for Central West mother Charmaine's (surname withheld) two young sons.
"There were developmental issues identified during both of our sons' early schooling - at daycare and preschool - before attending primary school," she said.
The family attended RFW's Manly base, where the multi-disciplinary team had sessions with the boys to provide support and tools that assisted in their early development delays.
"We do have services out here, but they're not as accessible or readily available as they are with RFW," she said.
"If we didn't have RFW, the boys would have had to go on a huge wait list to see a specialist."
Both boys are now at primary school and progressing well.
"They are doing amazingly at school now," Charmaine said.
"If we didn't access RFW's services, the boys wouldn't have been as prepared for school.
"We are very blessed to have received the assistance from RFW in such a timely manner."
Hayley Warden
Hayley Warden is a digital journalist with ACM Agri based on the NSW South Coast.
Hayley Warden is a digital journalist with ACM Agri based on the NSW South Coast.
