About NSW Health
Area Health Services | Statewide ServicesNSW Health offers a world class health system which comprises:
- NSW Minister for Health
- Minister Assisting the NSW Minister for Health (Cancer)
- NSW Department of Health
- Public health organisations
NSW Health provides a comprehensive range of health and health-related services in a wide range of settings, including primary care outpost in the remote outback, larger teaching hospitals in regional centres and busy metropolitan based health centres. More than 100,000 people work in or directly with NSW Health, across eight Area Health Services, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the Ambulance Service NSW and Justice Health. For more information see:
Area Health Services
Greater Southern Area Health Service
GSAHS extends from the beaches on the State’s South Coast across the Great Dividing Range and on to the snowfields of the Snowy Mountains. It then continues through to the rural Riverina, Murrumbidgee and Murray regions that border Victoria. It also includes the thriving regional centres of Albury, Deniliquin, Goulburn, Griffith, Queanbeyan and Wagga Wagga.
GSAHS has a population of approximately 470,000 people.
Greater Western Area Health Service
GWAHS lies to the west of the Blue Mountains, extending from Bathurst in the east to Broken Hill in the west. It includes a range of busy regional centres such as Orange and Dubbo as well as many small outback townships on the state’s western, northern and southern borders.
GWAHS has a population of approximately 294,000 people and the largest geographical footprint of all Area Health Services in NSW.
Hunter New England Area Health Service
HNEAHS extends from the scenic beaches of Newcastle to the tranquil Lakes Region of Taree. It also covers the area west to the agricultural heartland of Wee Waa and across to the regional centres of Tamworth and Armidale.
HNEAHS cares for a population of approximately 840,000 people.
North Coast Area Health Service
NCAHS begins at Tweed Heads on the Queensland border and extends down the state’s coast through some of Australia’s best-known beachside towns, including Byron Bay, Yamba and Coffs Harbour. It continues to the tourist centre of Port Macquarie and then westward through the sub-tropical rainforest bordering the Great Dividing Range.
With a population of approximately 480,000, NCAHS is the fastest growing Area Health Service in NSW and has the highest percentage of older residents.
South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service
SESIAHS stretches from Sydney Harbour, including the inner city and eastern suburbs, down the states scenic coastline. It encompasses, the regional centre of Wollongong and finishes at the rural hamlet of Durras on the south coast.
SESIAHS accounts for 17% of the total population of NSW at approximately 1.16 million people.
Sydney West Area Health Service
SWAHS extends from Auburn, through the two thriving regional cities and business centres of Sydney’s west - Parramatta and Penrith. It continues across the stunning Blue Mountains to the townships of Lithgow and Portland and then extends along the picturesque Hawkesbury in the north. Sydney West is one of the major growth areas in NSW with a total population of approximately 1.04 million.
Sydney South West Area Health Service
SSWAHS stretches from Sydney city across the diverse suburbs of the inner-west to the outer reaches of south-western Sydney.
SSWAHS has a population of around 1.33 million – approximately 20 percent of the State’s population.
Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service
NSCCAHS extends north from Sydney Harbour, including the leafy north shore and northern districts of Sydney, continuing north across the beautiful Hawkesbury River to the southern shore of Lake Macquarie and to Wiseman’s Ferry in the west.
NSCCAHS has an estimated population of 1.12 million.
Statewide Services
Justice Health
Providing healthcare to people in the adult correctional system, to juvenile detainees and to those within the forensic mental health system. It also provides service in police cells and to courts complexes and has an expanding role in the community, particularly in the area of community based forensic mental health services.
Justice Health cares for more than 21, 500 inmates and detainees annually. It employs more than 800 staff mainly highly trained specialist nursing professionals.
Ambulance Service of NSW
The Ambulance Service of NSW provides high quality clinical care and health related transport services to more than 6.7 million people in NSW, distributed across an area of 801,600 square kms.
Ambulance professionals work from 266 locations across the state, operating over 800 ambulance vehicles and 300 support vehicles to provide emergency, non-emergency, aeromedical, rescue and retrieval services.
CHW is the largest paediatric centre in NSW, providing excellent care for children from NSW, Australia and across the Pacific Rim.
Established in 1880, this stand-alone public hospital and registered charity has 3,00 staff in 150 departments. The hospital cares for more than 50,000 admitted sick children and their families each year in a family-focused healing environment. It is a teaching hospital of the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney.
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead