The Royal Flying Doctor Service will receive an additional  $71.3 million from the Australian government over the next three years to support primary and dental services in rural and remote areas nationwide. 

“All Australians should expect reasonable access to primary healthcare services no matter where they live, and this additional funding will support services to those who need them most," RFDS Federation Executive Director Frank Quinlan said. 

The budget expansion comes in response to rising demand and medical costs for primary care and rural and remote areas. 

According to a 2023 RFDS report on heart stroke and cardiovascular disease, Bourke-Brewarrina/Walgett-Lightning Ridge had the highest standardised death ratio in NSW at 2.96, followed by Wellington, Moree, and Cobar/Coonamble/Nyngan-Warren. Standardised death rates are expressed per 100,000 people.

The report emphasized the acute lack of medical professionals in regional and remote areas. "With the exception of nurses, the distribution of the primary healthcare workforce is significantly lacking in rural and remote areas." 

For example, only 3 percent of Australians who live in rural and remote areas received care in specialist stroke centres in 2021 compared to 77 percent of people in metropolitan areas. 

The RFDS provides emergency medical assistance to people in remote and rural areas by bringing them to a hospital in case of a medical emergency and transferring patients between hospitals that might be better suited to their needs. 

The RFDS also provides mental health and therapeutic services out of Wellbeing Places in Broken Hill, Dubbo, Lightning Ridge, and Cobar. 

In Western NSW, the RFDS has two General Practitioners and three primary health nurses based at Dubbo that cover six remote clinic locations at Grawin, Enngonia, The Marra, Nymagee, Hebel, and Weilmoringle, according to an RFDS spokesperson.

In 2022-2023, the RFDS employed 348 staff members across Broken Hill, Cobar, Dubbo, Essendon, Launceston, Lightning Ridge, and Sydney. 

To prevent the closure of three GP clinics in Gilgandra and Warren, the RFDS acquired ownership of them. The RFDS also reopened the Condobolin GP Clinic in January 2024 after it closed in 2023. 

It is expected that the funding injection will bolster services across the west.