A state parliamentary inquiry has heard five hospitals in western New South Wales are frequently running out of antibiotics and medical supplies.
An Upper House committee is in Wellington for its fourth hearing into the challenges remote, rural and regional communities face accessing health services.
Coonabarabran doctor Aniello Iannuzzi told the inquiry that the four hospitals in the Warrumbungle Shire had run out of antibiotics and staff were working with substandard resources.
"There has been a deliberate downgrading of instruments," he said.
Canowindra nurse Samantha Gregory-Jones told the inquiry her hospital also ran out of antibiotics regularly.
"[We] had to contact RNs [registered nurses] at this other hospital and deliver it," she said.
"Sometimes it's a nurse driving past us that has to deliver it.
Management blamed
Dr Iannuzzi said he believed the state of medical services in western NSW was the result of poor management.
"There's a problem with the system, there's a cultural problem," he said.
"In fact, I think it's beyond a cultural problem — it's a governments problem.
"Secondary problems are money and communication."
Dubbo Region Mayor Ben Shields told the inquiry that there was only one doctor to look after the thousands who relied on Wellington's services.
Cr Shields shared the experience of a woman who presented to the town's hospital with appendicitis, only to have to drive herself to another facility after waiting all night to see a doctor.
The inquiry continues.
