+61 2 4924 8000
Rural Health Outreach Fund supporting women's health
18th December 2025
Brewarrina, New South Wales
For many women, being able to seek out, and have access to, a ‘female’ General Practitioner for their health and wellbeing, or to discuss gender-specific health issues, is highly valued and can play a significant part in a patient’s willingness to seek medical or preventative care.
However, despite this need, for many women living in rural and remote towns, having access to a permanent female GP working in the region can be difficult or simply isn’t an option. This potentially leads to a reduction or refusal of preventative screening, diagnoses not taking place at all, or treatment options not being followed through.
RDN has, for the last ten years, secured funding under the Rural Health Outreach Fund (RHOF) to contract the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS) for the delivery of a female GP outreach service. The service is delivered in identified communities where there is limited access to a female GP or women's health service delivered by a female nurse/practitioner.
RHOF funds female GPs to visit monthly or bi-monthly to the following towns including:
- Brewarrina
- Hillston
- Rylstone
- Lightning Ridge
- Warren
- Grenfell
RDN’s Senior Coordinator for Health Access Services, Sally Brugger, said the service supports RDN’s mission of ‘health access for all’ and fills an identified gap that is highly valued by the women in each of the towns.
“This service is so important and so valued by the women who access it,” Sally said.
“It is a service which supports women from these towns, and surrounding areas, to feel safe and supported to access the necessary women's health care they need locally, by a female GP, should that be their preference,” she said.
“Prior to this, the presence of only male GPs in town meant that some women felt uncomfortable seeking medical care, leading to unmet health needs or necessitating travel to other towns for a female GP.
“The GPs hear directly from patients just how important this is, and the high up-take of bookings also confirms this so we are proud to partner with the RFDS in making this possible,” she said.
Sally also credited the town’s permanent GPs who recognise the importance of this service.
“We also appreciate how receptive and welcoming each of the town’s permanent male GPs are of this service because this contributes to the services’ success,” Sally said.
“They understand and see for themselves why this service is needed and their support and willingness to promote and endorse it, helps our visiting GPs to feel welcome and existing patients to feel supported in advocating for the healthcare they’re seeking,” she said.
Female GP, Dr Pethidia Mango, participated in the Outreach service for six years in Gilgandra from February 2019. During that time, she delivered 153 clinics, 845 hours and saw 1508 patients!
Reflecting on her involvement in the service whilst in Gilgandra, Dr Mango said her outreach experience “not only gave me a sense of purpose, but also allowed me to make a meaningful impact on the community.”
"I had a highly rewarding experience working in Gil, where I had the opportunity to provide care to rural women across various stages of life,” Dr Mango said.
“The caseload was diverse, encompassing a range of reproductive health issues, including menstrual disorders, contraception, STI screening, perimenopause, and postmenopausal care.”
“I particularly appreciated the collaborative relationships established with local clinicians, who referred their patients to the “lady doctor”. I would welcome the opportunity to participate in another outreach program in the future."
Dr Mango is committed to rural and remote women's health and expressed her interest to continue doing more outreach work at another funded location.
But why not continue at Gilgandra? Because Gilgandra is celebrating some welcome news that a visiting female GP registrar loved it so much – she decided to stay!
Two things can be true
Prior to the permanent appointment, this service initiated the provision of female GP services in Gilgandra to address the previous lack of female doctors in the area.
The female GP registrar who had been placed in Gilgandra achieved full accreditation and chose to continue her practice in the town, which was a development celebrated by the community as it meant they now had a full -time female GP available to them.
Since securing funding 10 years ago, RDN is pleased to report that the number of services funded through RHOF for the RFDS to deliver female GP services has been gradually reducing. Why is this something to celebrate? Because it means more female GPs are coming and staying in rural and remote communities!
“When RDN first secured the funding for the female GP program in 2015, 11 towns had been identified for us to work with that had no access to female GPs and were supported through the RHOF,” Sally said.
“This has now been reduced to eight towns across NSW and demonstrates the increase of female GPs in the workforce in NSW and those that are willing to work in rural and remote towns,” she said.
National data supports this trend of women in the workforce. In 2015, women comprised 40.1% of employed medical practitioners in Australia (AIHW). By 2023, females represented 49.6% of the primary care GP workforce nationwide (Health Direct).
To learn more about the service and to enquire about outreach opportunities, click here.
The Rural Health Outreach Fund
The Rural Health Outreach Fund aims to improve access to healthcare by enabling health professionals, including specialists, to visit rural and remote communities. In NSW and the ACT Rural Doctors Network (RDN) administers Health Outreach programs designed to increase access to medical, allied health and nursing services for people living in remote, rural, regional, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Related reading: