New South Wales rural and remote health services

Key facts

Health services and support are available throughout New South Wales.
It's often more challenging to get health services in rural and remote areas.
Virtual care allows remote video and phone contact with health practitioners.
If you need to travel for your medical appointments, the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme may cover some of your costs.

Rural and remote New South Wales

The term 'rural and remote' (includes regional areas) covers all areas in New South Wales, outside the major cities (Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong). Nearly 2 in every 5 people live in regional NSW.

The geography of NSW covers the coast, the mountains, the central plains and the western plains.

Smaller towns often have fewer services than regional centres. It's often harder to see a doctor if you live in rural and remote areas.

What types of health services are available?

Although there are fewer health services in rural and remote NSW, help is available when you need it. You can often find information at community centres, or by asking local people. You can look online to find hospitals, health services and programs specific to your local rural or regional health district (Opens in new tab).

Use the healthdirect Service Finder to find your nearest health services. The Service Finder has contact information for health services, such as:

GPs
hospitals
dentists
opticians
psychologists
pharmacies

You can often find out about health services at community centres, or by asking local people.

Hospitals

In a medical emergency, immediately call triple zero (000) and ask for an ambulance.

In NSW, hospitals are organised by local health districts (LHDs). There are 9 local health districts in rural and regional NSW. To locate a hospital near you (Opens in new tab), look up the local health district that you live in through the NSW Health website.

You can also use the healthdirect Service Finder to locate a hospital nearest to you.

Mental health and wellbeing

If you need to talk to someone about your mental health, call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

The Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP) (Opens in new tab) is a partnership with the rural Local Health Districts. They give personalised advice and can connect you with appropriate services.

Find out about other organisation that have mental health helplines.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service offers alcohol and other drugs (Opens in new tab) prevention and rehabilitation services.

Learn more about drugs and alcohol.

Dental care

If you live in rural NSW, it can be harder to see a dental practitioner.

Find out if you can use the NSW public dental service (Opens in new tab).

Use the Australian Dental Association search directory (Opens in new tab) to find a dentist closest to you.

Learn more about dental health.

Emergency assistance

In a medical emergency, immediately call triple zero (000) and ask for an ambulance.

In NSW the air ambulance services are managed by the state ambulance service. They also partner with groups like CareFlight and RFDS.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (Opens in new tab) has bases in Broken Hill and Dubbo. They provide 24 hour emergency medical flights (Opens in new tab).

CareFlight (Opens in new tab) also have emergency and rescue services in NSW.

The NSW Newborn and paediatric Emergency Transport Services (NETS) (Opens in new tab) do emergency transport NSW. They are based in Sydney and Newcastle.

FIND A HEALTH SERVICE — The Service Finder can help you find doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and other health services.

Online and telephone services and support

For free health advice, call the healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available to speak with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Virtual care or telehealth

Some health services offer virtual health or telehealth. This lets you speak with your doctor or nurse online or by phone.

Virtual care lets you get care from more services, without leaving your home. This helps reduce the time and costs of travelling to an appointment.

To find a virtual care clinic in your state or territory, use the healthdirect Service Finder.

My Health Record

My Health Record is a secure online summary of your health information. You and the healthcare professionals that you see can add details to your record.

This record can improve communication between the people looking after you.

You can do this online learning module (Opens in new tab) to help you understand your My Health Record.

Health services and support for different life stages

There are many online and telephone support services available to people of all ages. Ask your doctor or contact your local community health centre (Opens in new tab).

Healthcare for babies and toddlers

NSW Health offers the Virtual Residential Parenting Service (VRPS) (Opens in new tab) for NSW families with young children who need extra support. This is a free online service.

If you are pregnant, or a parent of a young child call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby to speak to a maternal child health nurse on 1800 882 436 or video call (Opens in new tab). Available 7am to midnight (AET), 7 days a week.

Read about maternity services (Opens in new tab) in rural NSW.

Healthcare for children

NSW Health's child and family health services are free for children aged 0-5 years. Learn more about what is available and find a service (Opens in new tab) through the NSW Government Health website.

Kids Helpline (Opens in new tab) is a telephone and online counselling service for those aged 5 to 25 — call 1800 55 1800.

Healthcare for teenagers

Headspace (Opens in new tab) offers mental health support for people aged 12 to 25 years. Visit their website, call them on 1800 650 890, or make an appointment at your nearest headspace centre (Opens in new tab).

Kids Helpline (Opens in new tab) provides telephone and online counselling for ages 5 to 25 — call 1800 55 1800.

ReachOut.com (Opens in new tab) is a youth mental health service. Visit their website for online help.

Learn more about sexual health.

Healthcare for older people

You can find out about aged care services on the My Aged Care website (Opens in new tab). Or you can call them on 1800 200 422.

Call the Mental Health Line (Opens in new tab) on 1800 011 511 if you are concerned about the mental health of an older person.

Carers NSW (Opens in new tab) offer support for people caring for someone.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples' health

Find out more about how NSW Health supports Aboriginal Health (Opens in new tab).

Find an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (Opens in new tab) (ACCHO) near you.

Farming communities

Accidents are common in farming communities, both for workers and their children (Opens in new tab). The National Centre for Farmer Health (Opens in new tab) has information on health and wellbeing.

Staying healthy

NSW Health has online information on healthy living (Opens in new tab).

You can also find out more about the latest vaccination programs (Opens in new tab).

Resources and support

Read the Healthdirect article on rural and remote health.

For more information on the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance (Opens in new tab) Scheme, call 1800 478 227.

For services and support for carers, go to the Carer Gateway (Opens in new tab) website.

You can also call the healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available to speak with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.