By Abby Seaman

Angela Hubbard works to provide an innovative approach to bring allied health services to rural and remote communities and has been recognized for her success in making new service models work for small towns including several in the western plains area.

Ms Hubbard is a physiotherapist based in central western NSW and the recipient of the 2021 Rural and Remote Medical Services (RARMS), Integrated Rural Health Award.

Raised in Moree and Narrabri, now a Wellington local, Ms Hubbard understands the importance and challenges of accessibility to health services such as physiotherapy, exercise physiology and dietetics which she says are critical to disease prevention and chronic illness.

"The further you go, the less people that are out there, those people are no less worthy of receiving health services," Ms Hubbard said.

"Ensuring that all human beings regardless of geography, demographics have equal access to health services."

Phyz X 2 U is a mobile physiotherapy and exercise physiology clinic that drives through central west NSW to provide accessible health services.

The idea stemmed four years ago from Justin Johnson the owner and director of parent company PhyzX, located in Orange.

Justin grew up in Lightning Ridge where his father was the local GP (in the practice now operated by RARMS).

"He (Justin Johnson) came to me and said, should we go into the mobile space and start to deliver some of what we can do in central west regional New South Wales."

"To get those services out to more rural and remote areas to improve access to people who otherwise can't get it because of geography," said Ms Hubbard.

After that, an Orange-based company co-designed and custom-made a clinic truck and Phyz X 2 U was on the road, attending to patients from Oberon to Coonamble.

"I tend to talk in train lines, it's almost like we do express to a location that is busy or an all stations too, then you know, we pick up different patients along the way," Ms Hubbard said.

"Lake Cargelligo was our first on line. The Cargelligo Medical Centre were really supportive of Phyz X 2 U when we first put the wheels on the road.

“So Lake and Condo and Forbes, that line really holds a special place in our heart, and we've also been doing a Cobar and Warren line and then up to Wee Waa and Narrabri.

"And then you know, it's covered Oberon, Molong, Canowindra."

 Late last year Ms Hubbard was awarded the Integrated Rural Health award.

 Mark Burdack, CEO of RARMS said, “When the Board of RARMS considered the nominees for the 2021 Integrated Rural Health Award, Angela was the stand-out. Her commitment to team-based care and her passion for rural and remote communities is first class making her a deserved recipient of this inaugural award,”

“Angela’s passion for improving access to rural and remote health care by developing models to integrate general practice, nursing and allied health care is infectious,” Mr Burdack said.

“Rural and remote people bring a genuinely different way of thinking to the challenges of rural and remote health. There is no ‘deficit’ thinking in her approach, it is all about opportunities.

“Too often rural and remote health devolves into discussions about barriers, problems and why things cannot be done. When you sit around a table with Angela, Justin and Jason it is all about how we can make things better by using local knowledge, skills and ingenuity."

This achievement marks the beginning of RARMS working in partnership with Phyz X 2 U, to provide a consistent and sustainable health service.

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the service over the last two years, Ms Hubbard is feeling hopeful for 2022.

Phyz X 2 U has already began expanding with an alliance with Sydney University, starting a student and clinical placement model to offer practical placements to tertiary institutions.

“COVID pending, we hopefully will have some degree of a new normal… getting some clinics going back in those areas, building more working relationships with tertiary institutions to get different professions within the allied health sector, wrapping around a lot of these clinics.”

“So, we're expanding from physiotherapy and exercise physiology to introducing dietetics as well. And hopefully clinical psychology is another one that we can add to the service sometime this year.”

Part of the plan is a 12 month collaborative clinical trial in Collarenebri to evaluate new models of team based care for rural and remote Australians, due to get underway this year.