‘Hanging vulnerable people out to dry’: Covid stretches rural Australian health services to breaking point

Jim Goldsmith has had no visitors in the long-stay section at Coonamble Multi-Purpose Service since the Thursday before Christmas.

It was the day he turned 79 and his wife Pam's Covid-19 test came back positive.

At the end of 10 days of Covid-19 illness, Pam received medical clearance from NSW Health. But she still needed to show a negative PCR test result to see her critically ill husband of 52 years.

Eight days after she took the PCR test on 5 January, Pam still had not received the results.

Enquiring after her results a week after she took the first test, Pam was told to come and do another PCR test at the Coonamble MPS on 10 January and the results would be fast-tracked. She had not received the second test results by Friday either.

This is the reality of a sluggish health system in regional and rural Australia, where Covid-19 PCR and rapid antigen tests are hard to access and there are long delays receiving results. It is separating families and exacerbating issues within stretched health services.

Their daughter Kim Goldsmith wants to know who is responsible because she fears many vulnerable people like her father have been hung out to dry.