The mother of a young Wiradjuri woman who died despite presenting multiple times to Tumut Hospital says she wants to see "real action" taken to address unconscious bias in the NSW health system.
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Sharon Williams' 27-year-old daughter Naomi Williams was six months pregnant when she died on New Year's Day in 2016 after numerous presentations to local health services for extreme physical pain, vomiting, and nausea.
An autopsy report later revealed her death was caused by sepsis associated with the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, a condition usually treatable with antibiotics.
July 29 marked one year since the NSW deputy state coroner handed down her findings from an inquest into Ms Williams' death, during which "many tears were shed".
Coroner Harriet Grahame made a raft of recommendations including that the Murrumbidgee Local Health District address implicit racial bias within its services and improve its representation of Indigenous workers by considering a target at least proportionate to the number of Aboriginal residents.
Sharon Williams said her family met with NSW health minister Brad Hazzard last September and he promised he would implement the recommendations to improve bias in the state's health system.
"There needs to be strong leadership from the top if they want to be taken seriously. It is time for real action, no more lip service," Ms Williams said.
"The family will meet with the minister again in October."
Ms Williams said she felt the MLHD had taken the coroner's recommendations seriously and shown "a real commitment" to improving its relationship with the local Aboriginal community and hiring more Indigenous staff.
She said the MLHD had undertaken a cultural competency audit and was providing regular cultural training to staff across the district.
"It has been a long, drawn out process but one we, as a family, had to undertake to ensure Naomi's story be told," Ms Williams said.
She said her family had been meeting with the MLHD's executive team and having "open, honest conversations" about underlying issues in the relationship between health services and the Aboriginal community.
"Our last meeting was in March and we would have liked another meeting by now," Ms Williams said.
However, Ms Williams said she was still working to lodge formal complaints with the assistance of the human rights legal service National Justice Project, whose co-founder George Newhouse represented the family during the inquest.
"Someone does need to be held accountable for their lack of duty of care to Naomi and her unborn baby," Ms Williams said.
Comment was sought from the MLHD but they were unable to provide a response before deadline.
