SWSPHN team joins health forum to focus on regional solutions

A team from SWSPHN was excited to attend the Greater Western Sydney Future Health Forum 2023 recently, with our CEO, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, invited to lend his experience and expertise to a panel session, Unlocking the Care Economy.

It was a welcome opportunity to work with others from across Western Sydney to focus on regional solutions to issues around health service provision, community engagement, innovative partnerships, city-shaping, skills pipeline, digital and transport access.

The forum brought together participants, including Health Minister Ryan Park who headlined the forum, and more than 250 leading academics, researchers, local business leaders, sports professionals, and key community stakeholders from local councils and local health districts.

The Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue organised the forum which heard calls for the NSW Government to ban junk food advertising on all public transport to address the region’s worsening obesity and diabetes crisis.

Dialogue CEO, Adam Leto, said research, data and overseas success stories showed there were numerous low-cost initiatives which could dramatically improve health outcomes for our region’s residents.

“We can improve the health and well-being of tens-of-thousands of Western Sydney residents by taking these small steps that will have such a big impact on local communities,” he said.

“There are many communities across Greater Western Sydney which have a higher proportion of overweight residents, while the region is a recognised diabetes hotspot.

“This is an opportunity for local health professionals, all layers of government and local community leaders to work together and tackle these critical health issues with internationally successful programs.”

For forum outcomes – Small Steps to Tackle Big Health Crisis in GWS | Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue