Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.
Thousands of Riverina patients have benefited from financial assistance from the NSW Government’s boosted subsidies for travel and accommodation costs.
More than 15,600 patients from Murrumbidgee Local Health District have had improved access to healthcare through the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme (IPTAAS).
IPTAAS provides financial assistance to patients who need to travel long distances for specialist healthcare not available locally.
Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr said regional patients and their families had added stress when they had to travel to access healthcare.
“Assistance towards the costs of travel and accommodation is an important way of helping patients get the care they need,” Dr McGirr said.
“I have been campaigning for improvements in this area, and I congratulate the government for making this support available.
“We know that people from regional communities often have to travel significant distances to get specialist care but sometimes financial support through IPTAAS can mean the difference between people seeking treatment or not.”
Dr McGirr said the reduced financial burden for those travelling could significantly impact access to the right treatment and deliver a faster recovery.
“While more needs to be done to ensure rural and regional communities get the health services they need and deserve, I acknowledge the government’s commitment to improving regional health and look forward to working with them to achieve more improvements in the future.”
IPTAAS provides financial assistance towards travel and accommodation costs when patients need to travel more than 100 km one way or 200 km within a week for appointments with the same medical practitioner or health service for specialised medical treatment that is not available locally.
Financial assistance can be claimed for private vehicle travel, public transport (trains, buses and ferries), taxis, ride shares (Uber), air travel (in special circumstances) and accommodation.
With increased subsidies, NSW patients have also put more money back in their pockets, with the average reimbursement per patient higher than ever before at $482.
In the 2023-24 financial year, $48,885,696 was provided in IPTAAS claims across NSW, helping 41,417 patients access specialist health treatment.
The NSW Government hopes to improve access in regional, rural and remote communities. These include:
- Delivering more health worker accommodation in the bush
- Doubling rural health worker incentives for the most critical and hard-to-fill positions to improve recruitment and retention
- Boosting doctors in our regional GP surgeries as well as hospitals through the single employer model
- Deploying an extra 500 regional paramedics.
To find out more or submit your claim visit Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Assistance Scheme.
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