THREE Leeton shire residents are leading the charge to push for what they say is an issue that has reached crisis point.
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Angela Uren, Robert Quodling and Jason Richardson have each noticed a significant downgrade in services at the Leeton District Hospital, but also believe there are not enough doctors available in town to treat the shire's population when the need arises for individuals and their families.
Ms Uren started a poll on the Facebook page I live in Leeton calling for residents to have their say on the state of healthcare in the shire.
Hundreds of residents said they wanted to see more doctors at the hospital and medical centres, as well as the possibility of having a doctor permanently on deck in the emergency room.
Ms Uren has needed the services of an emergency doctor three times and each time she presented at the hospital there was no doctor on-call.
The trio stressed they weren't criticising the current doctors or nurses working in the shire, rather the healthcare system and the government, who they say should be doing more to bring doctors to Leeton.
"At the end of the day, it's just not good enough," Mr Quodling said.
"Is it going to take someone to die before something happens?
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"This is just not good enough for a town the size of Leeton.
There's all sorts of flow-on affects. It's hurting our town. I have no doubt people will start to leave if they can't get the proper healthcare they need here.
"It would be a disgrace to see all of the hard work that has been put in attracting people to our beautiful town go to waste.
"The simple fact of the matter is we need more doctors and it's not as though there isn't cause for it at the medical centres and at the hospital."
Leeton is home to four medical practices, but on any given day only limited or no appointments are available with the doctors working at those clinics.
What the trio would like for the community to do now is back their push and what they are trying to achieve.
Residents have been urged to write a letter to Member for Murray Austin Evans and Member for Farrer Sussan Ley detailing their experiences and why Leeton needs more doctors.
The group was also set to meet with Mr Evans on Thursday to discuss the issue and a public meeting is being planned with Ms Ley.
Once a date is known, Ms Uren said she wants as many residents as possible to attend.
"It's the people power that they pay attention to … we need to push this as community or it will only get worse," she said.
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