Greater Western Area Health Services

GWAHS Facts

The Greater Western AHS, formally came into being on 1 January, 2005 and provides care for approx. 294,000 people or which 7.3% are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

GWAHS covers a geographical area of approx. 444,586 square kms which equates to 56% of the land mass of NSW and extends from Oberon in the east, to the South Australia border, north to the Queensland border and south to the Victorian border.

Gwahs spans 28 Local Government Areas (LGAs), of which 9 (32%) are classified as remote or ‘very remote’. The LGAs include: Balranald, Bathurst Regional, Blayney, Bogan, 'Bourke', 'Brewarrina', Broken Hill, Cabonne, Central Darling, Cobar, Coonamble, Cowra, Dubbo, Evans, Forbes, Gilgandra, Lachlan, Narromine, Oberon, Orange, Parkes, Unincorporated Far West (UFW), Walgett, Warren, Warrumbungle, Weddin, Wellington and Wentworth

GWAHS employs approx. 6,911 (4,678 FTE) staff and has its head office at Dubbo and a regional office at Broken Hill. It is projected that GWAHS will care for a population projected to grow to 0.31 million by 2011 and includes the following public hospitals and health facilities:

Base Hospitals

• Dubbo and Orange (non Metro Referral)
• Bathurst
• Broken Hill (large acute service hospitals)