The NSW State Health Plan: Towards 2021 has set two overarching goals for health care services in NSW:

1. Keep people healthy and out of hospital
2. Providing world class clinical services with timely access and effective infrastructure

The NSW State Health Plan provides directions and strategies to deliver these state health goals.

The NSW Rural Health Plan: Towards 2021 was developed to strengthen the capacity of NSW rural health services to provide connected and seamless care, as close to regional, rural and remote NSW communities as possible.

The Health Needs Assessment (HNA) is a living document that is a detailed analysis of our population health data, patient flow, service delivery models and projected health needs. It was the first stage of the development of the Strategic Health Service Plan (2013-2016).

You may be interested in some of the key facts from the HNA:

• Western NSW is the second most sparsely populated Local Health District in NSW - just over 1 person per square kilometre (271,000 people: 250,000 square kilometres)
• Population growth in the district has been minimal - 2.0% over the past 5 years, with areas closer to Sydney growing, those beyond Dubbo declining
• The largest growth in population is for the 65+ ages - 6,500 persons or 17% growth from 2006 to 2011
• There is low forecast population growth - < 1% from 2011 to 2016
• The proportion of the population that is Aboriginal rises from 4% in Bathurst to 11% in Dubbo and to 27% in 'Remote' (this compares with 2.5% for NSW). Overall 9.4% of the district's population identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and 16% of the children (0-14 years)

Some of the priority areas identified by the HNA where health care interventions are likely to give the greatest benefits to the District's population include:

• Smoking prevention and cessation
• Nutrition and physical activity interventions, including obesity prevention
• Diabetes prevention and management
• Well child care, particularly for Aboriginal children - the first 1000 days
• Mental health - continuing and strengthening the current community services

​Click here to download a copy of the Strategic Plan.​

A coherent system of care for Western NSW Local Health District has been developed to guide the delivery of safe, accessible and equitable services for people living in western NSW. The Clinical Services Framework will be the foundation for providing clinical services to 2020.

The purpose of the Framework is to describe the current roles of health services, provide agreed rules and guidelines for the planning of health services and align the future role of hospitals and health services with both the strategic directions of the District and the health needs of the population it serves.