Group members have experience in the health system, heritage and the public service, according to group spokesmen Stuart Pearson and Greg Madden, and they say their aim is to ensure the city has the health services it needs in the appropriate location.

Here, Mr Pearson, on behalf of the group, argues the case for upgrading Bathurst's public hospital to a higher classification.

I want to start by thanking our local member and Deputy Premier, Paul Toole MP, for the recent announcement by the NSW Government to invest a substantial $200 million in upgrades and improvements to Bathurst public hospital.

This provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get the future of our health services right in Bathurst.

Hospitals have been classified and resourced according to the number of patients they treat, particularly the number of patients treated in Emergency.

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The four categories of hospitals are A, B, C, D (with subcategories in each). According to NSW Health statistics (2022), Bathurst Hospital is rated as Category C, whereas Dubbo and Orange are both rated higher as Category B hospitals.

Hospitals must have more than 10,000 Emergency attendances per annum to be classified in Category B. Dubbo has 47,700; Orange 34,000.

Meanwhile, Bathurst has 25,000, more than twice the number needed to qualify as a Category B hospital, yet it remains a Category C hospital.

All hospitals are resourced according to which category they are in, and this has resulted in Dubbo and Orange receiving approximately $150 million each year to run their hospitals, whereas Bathurst receives about $90 million.

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There are three further points that need to be made.

The first is that a number of Emergency patients in the Bathurst catchment area are transferred for further treatment to Orange Emergency, sometimes even before being admitted to the Emergency unit at Bathurst.

This artificially inflates the attendance figures of Orange and reciprocally lowers the true attendance figures for Bathurst.

Secondly, the City of Lithgow (population 21,000) is not included in the catchment area of Bathurst, whereas Blayney, Oberon and Rylstone are.

Lithgow Hospital (46 beds) is included in the Nepean and Blue Mountains Local Health District and any patient transfers for emergencies or specialist treatment are transported to Nepean Hospital at Penrith, over one-and-a-half hours away.

Bathurst Hospital, with a large emergency section, is 45 minutes away.

If Lithgow was included in the catchment area of Bathurst Hospital, then the catchment areas of each hospital would be Dubbo (120,000), Orange (100,000) and Bathurst (100,000).

This would necessitate an upgrade of Bathurst into a Category B hospital, and an increase in financial resources to match.

The last point to consider is future growth.

Over the next 20 years, Bathurst is estimated by id.Consulting to have the highest increase in population (32.3 per cent) out of the three main centres in the Central West of NSW.

The demand for medical services in Bathurst will be almost the equal of either Orange or Dubbo.

In short, Bathurst Hospital could become one of the busiest hospitals west of the Blue Mountains and should be upgraded to a Category B hospital soon, to better prepare for it.