Member for Wagga Dr Joe McGirr speaks to senior members of Wagga as part of his annual forum to better understand the issues affecting the older population. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Public transport and the lack of specialist appointments were among the biggest issues expressed at a recent seniors forum held by Member for Wagga Dr Joe McGirr.
Now in its fifth year, the annual forum is primarily focused on understanding areas of concern for Wagga’s oldest residents.
During this year’s forum, Dr McGirr said he was made aware of several issues.
“This year’s forum, we’ve decided to focus on health issues, because it’s an issue that comes up frequently and at previous forums,” Dr McGirr said.
“We’re asking senior residents to complete a survey now about their experiences in the health sector. We want to understand things like, do we have enough people in the workforce, are there enough services being provided, are there big concerns about maternity services?
“It’s important to hear from older members of the public about how they can access services, what services they can get to, whether they are able to get to a GP in a timely fashion, and what their experience has been like in the hospital system.
“That’s what I’m hoping to hear from the survey.”
Batlow resident Col Lee expressed several ideas about how to serve regional members who lived in the furthest corners of the electorate.
“Rural communities get left behind. We need to do more for the country,” he said.
“To see a specialist [in the city], you might get an appointment in two weeks’ time. You get an appointment, you get a referral to see a specialist here, and you might get an appointment in three months or four months, because there’s no specialist available in that time.
“We would like to see a few specialists from different sectors of health travel out to the regions like Tumut, like Batlow and visit once a month or so. We travel quite a lot for appointments, so reducing frequent travel would be ideal.
“We would also like to see more people at these forums. There are empty seats, and having more people here with more ideas and more insight would help make sure we get what we need.”
One of the more surprising takeaways from the forum was senior residents’ concerns about cash being phased out on public transport in Wagga.
“People are anxious about the concept of cash disappearing, so I think having a transition period is important,” Dr McGirr said.
“It’s important that people know that both cash and card payments will be available for at least the short term. I think it’s something we need to monitor, particularly for older members of our community, but the experience so far is that people can adapt to it and choose their methods.”
