Health boss hopes women's health clinic in Orange can be rolled out across Central West

Western NSW Primary Health Network CEO Andrew Coe was involved in procuring the trial clinic, which will operate out of the Orange Family Medical Centre on an initial four year basis, with the hope of extending it after that.

Mr Coe said this was an acknowledgement from the Federal Government that something needed to be done to better the health of women.

"We often talk about trials in healthcare and while this is framed as a trial and there's a limit around the funding, for me, this is about demonstrating the value of these services and the benefit for the population and the women who suffer," he said.

"This is about demonstrating that investing in primary care, we can save some money somewhere else in the system."

Endometriosis affects at least one in nine Australian women and can have an extensive, devastating impact on the daily lives of sufferers.

Pelvic pain can be similarly complex and debilitating, with the impact being felt beyond individuals as it is estimated to cost the Australian economy $6 billion a year.

Mr Coe said this was just the beginning of the journey.

"For me, this is the start of a process and it's about trying to establish a service in our catchment and then I'd like to see that service rolled out across more practices over time," he said when asked about the possibility of more endometriosis clinics opening in across the Central West going forward.

"What I'd like to see with primary care more broadly across our catchment is once we learn a bit more about how best to manage these patients, we could potentially offer this service to other practices."

While there was interest from "numerous" practices within the Central West to trial this program, the Orange facility was selected because it had the "capability and capacity" to help those women in need.

"This is really exciting news. It demonstrates that our area has the right clinicians that can provide the right care and the government is willing to support us. This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the value that our clinicians can offer across the Central West," Mr Coe added.

"We now have this clinic in our catchment and what we want to be able to do is learn from this rollout and understand what's important so that we can make it available to the population and see whether this is something we can put into more practices over time."

Each of the 20 clinics across Australia chosen to take part in this trial will receive more than $700,000 over four years, to support hiring specialised staff, including nurse practitioners and allied health professionals, investment in equipment or fit-outs such as pelvic physiotherapy areas, as well as resources, training and development.

Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, MP Ged Kearney said women deserved to have their concerns taken seriously when accessing healthcare.

"These clinics are about providing women with an accessible front door to the care that they need. Gathering expertise under one roof, fostering that knowledge to improve diagnosis and services, having referral pathways in place - these are all crucial elements to getting the support that women need right," she said.

"The recognition of endometriosis and pelvic pain as serious conditions has been a long and hard-fought battle from fierce advocates in the sector and in our communities. I want to say to those people - thank you and we're listening.

"We are a government that is committed to improving women's health and this is a crucial step forward for part of the population that has too long been dismissed."

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