The report made 44 recommendations, including that local health districts identify funding shortfalls, service delivery gaps and improve staff conditions and safety at work.

"It is concerning, it has been such a pertinent issue, it's why I've called for a separate department [for rural health]," Dr McGirr said.

"The inquiry chair's foreword notes the disconnect between the reality of daily challenges faced by nurses and midwives, for example, in rural and regional areas and NSW Health's perception of them.

"We have heard evidence from the community, we now have some pretty clear actions that the government can implement that I think will go a long way to addressing those issues."

The report was a result of the NSW Parliamentary inquiry into health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW.

The report made several references to Wagga, mostly via testimony from people who had to travel when their nearby health services were not able to assist them.

'I had the misfortune of falling ill late one night. I presented to the local hospital. We have no doctor at the hospital, there was no local doctor on call, so I was told I would have to go to Wagga, but there were no ambulances available either," one person testified.

"So in considerable pain, my husband drove me the 100 kilometres to Wagga hospital. When I got there I presented to emergency, I waited in the waiting room for over two hours, then went into the other triage room where I was for the next 10 hours."

Gundagai GP Paul Mara, who appeared as a witness at the rural health inquiry, said the subsequent report had identified the issues but not the right solutions.

"It hasn't come to grips with the real problem underpinning it, which is that in rural areas you have a workforce issue as you don't have enough doctors and nurses to supply the services on an ongoing basis, and that cuts across both GP settings and hospitals in particular," he said.

The Murrumbidgee Local Health District deferred its initial response to the report to NSW Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor.

Ms Taylor thanked those who shared their experiences with the inquiry and said a formal response to the report would be handed down in coming months.

"The NSW government has listened and accepts that there is a need to do more to improve patient care in regional and rural locations," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: