Submissions to a parliamentary inquiry into rural and regional healthcare have closed.
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The inquiry has heard of serious incidents being downgraded to avoid investigation; and that people in rural and regional areas receive poorer care, and have worse health outcomes than their urban counterparts.
Unions Shoalhaven and Bill Hancock both submitted to the inquiry that a new, greenfield site hospital for the Shoalhaven could go some way towards improving health outcomes for residents.
Local nurse Nina Digiglio said she was not surprised by the concerns submitted to the inquiry.
"What should come first is giving people the best care possible," she said. "We don't get that by refusing to learn from mistakes - we need a model of accountability."
The NSW Medical Staff Executive Council said it had been provided with examples from regional doctors of the clinical governance units "inappropriately downgrading" incidents and failing to "investigate preventable deaths".
At this point it is unknown if any incidents of concern from the Illawarra-Shoalhaven were raised with the inquiry.
The full report is pending; hearings for the inquiry are expected to continue until mid-July.
In response to request for comment from the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW Health provided a generic statement.
"NSW Health acknowledges the concerns raised by those who have made submissions to the NSW Parliamentary inquiry into Health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales," the statement read.
"We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission, and to participate in the hearings.
"Reporting and analysis of clinical incidents and sentinel events is an important part of clinical care that health professionals and managers take very seriously."
