Wagga MP Joe McGirr has this week launched a petition calling for a dedicated department of rural health to be established in NSW.

His call follows the appointment of the state's first-ever Regional Health Minister Bronnie Taylor, as well as hundreds of submissions and months' worth of hearings into an upper house rural health inquiry.

Dr McGirr said his electronic petition, which is now open to signatures, acknowledges the "unique challenges" in regional and rural parts of the state when it comes to the provision and access of healthcare.

The petition calls on the government to establish the new department to "safeguard and increase rural health services" and "provide the rural health workforce that communities need on the ground".

The call has been backed by a number of regional healthcare experts, such as cardiologist and professor of medicine Gerard Carroll.

Working as a specialist physician in Wagga for more than 30 years, Professor Carroll said the concept of a dedicated department of rural health has "great merit" and is something the community - and state - should rally behind.

"This model is not trying to replace or usurp the department of health, but it's trying to say that a department of rural health is better equipped to focus on, develop and expand service provision in rural NSW," he said.

As part of his proposal, Dr McGirr said a department of rural health should consist of four key priorities, the first two being workforce and advocacy.

He said the department should work to safeguard existing health services in the regions, while also seeking out opportunities for expansion and improvement.

The last priority proposed by Dr McGirr is for the newly formed department to work closely with the commonwealth government.

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"The rural health inquiry has shown healthcare in rural, remote and regional NSW is still lagging and that there is a lot more the government can do to improve services," he said.

"The submissions made to the inquiry mirror many of the experiences and stories shared with me by constituents."

Professor Carroll believes a new department could help support rural health in a number of ways, especially around the expansion of services and provision of funding.

"For too long the rural sector [has] seemed to lag behind in priority in funding for services," he said.

"Any state government will point to funding that's been allocated to various sites and it's good that there is [that] funding ... but compared to metro areas and coastal areas there's, I believe, a justifiable sense that the funding of proper service provision and expansion in rural NSW is not a priority."

The call for a department of rural health was backed last month by Wagga general practitioner Ayman Shenouda who said it would be "fantastic" for patient outcomes, while Minister Bronnie said she was "happy to have those conversations".

The petition can be signed online via the NSW Parliament website.

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