Name NSW Central West Division of General Practice Division Number 229 Classification Rural Number of Member GPs 169 State New South Wales Year Established 1993 Number of Member Practices 57 Postcodes Covered 2668, 2669, 2672, 2721, 2726, 2727, 2787, 2790, 2791, 2792, 2793, 2794, 2795, 2797, 2798, 2799, 2800, 2803, 2804, 2805, 2806, 2807, 2808, 2809, 2810, 2845, 2846, 2847, 2848, 2849, 2864, 2865, 2866, 2867, 2868, 2870, 2871, 2873, 2874, 2875, 2876, 2877. Population 170,180 (2001 Census) Area Covered The Division lies west of the Blue Mountains and covers an area of 60,287 square kilometres (NSW Regional Statistics 1997) from Lithgow in the east to Lake Cargelligo in the west, and from Tottenham in the north to Grenfell in the south. The major towns in the Division are Bathurst, Cowra, Grenfell, Orange, Forbes and Parkes. CEO Ms Sandra Christensen Chair Dr Hilton Brown Physical Address: The Scott's Centre 82 George St BATHURST NSW 2795 Australia Postal Address: PO Box 742 BATHURST NSW 2795 Australia Email: admin@cwdgp.org.au Phone: 02 6332 6646 Fax: 02 6332 6648

The Division lies west of the Blue Mountains and covers an area of 60,287 square kilometers (NSW Regional statistics 1997). The area varies from mountainous in the east to plains in the west. The Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers flow through the region and are important sources of water for domestic consumption and crop irrigation. The western area is more frequently affected by drought and flooding.

The economy of the region is basically associated with primary industry (wool, wheat, meat and mining) but with a strong (but localised) secondary industry in the two large regional centres of Orange and Bathurst. Orange has a growing public sector while both Orange and Bathurst have campuses of tertiary institutions. The population is diverse with non-metropolitan cities, towns, villages and isolated rural communities.

74% of the population of  170,180 is concentrated in the five rural towns of Lithgow, Mudgee, Parkes, Forbes and Cowra and the two urban areas of Bathurst and Orange.  The population has lower incomes  (22% earning less than $10,387 per annum) and lower educational attainment than average. 3.2% of the population is of Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander descent (NSW 1.6%) and there are no significant populations of any other peoples.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

• The establishment of a wide range of services to provide practical support to the current GP workforce and a program of strategic activities focusing on improving health in the community. The number of practicing GPs has increased from 114 ten years ago to 169 in 2002. The development of a regionalised training program has seen the number of GP Registrars increase from 8 in 997 to 32 in 2002.
• The Wiradjuri Aboriginal Project saw a 17 fold increase in Aboriginal immunisation rates.
• The first Division in NSW to run, in conjunction with the NSW Children's Hospital, the Diploma of Child HEalth by distance education.
• The Farm Injury minimum dataset has been adopted by Farm Safety in NSW. The project led to a community education program based on "Giddy Goanna" and his safety messages.
• Strong partnerships with Mid Western Area Health for work including A&OD, Cold Chain/Immunisation, hospital discharge communication systems, HepC EPC, Illicit Drugs Shared Care

CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE

Based on our goals from the Strategic Plan:

• Through general practice, improve population health outcmes with particular emphasis on the Aged and Aboriginal communities.
• To support general practice through the provision of information and business practice support.
• Improved equitable access to quality health care.
• An innovative and accountable organisation responding effectively to general practice and the community.