Nationals warn locums are often the only way people in small towns can see a doctor

The former government was "over-reliant" on locum doctors as a "temporary fix" to regional and rural health worker shortages, the minister said.

"It is simply unsustainable," he said.

The state government has resolved to address the systemic and structural factors underpinning the dependency on private recruitment agencies, which is mainly caused by the regional and rural health workforce shortage, Mr Park said.

"I am determined to see more of our health spending flowing directly to clinicians," he said.

"There is a very reasonable community expectation we reduce this type of spending.

"This won't be achieved overnight or with a single policy, but rather a holistic suite of initiatives."

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These holistic structural measures are meant to re-calibrate health spending and address workforce shortages in regional and rural areas, and include an inquiry into health spending, implementing the single employer model, among others.

Shadow regional health minister Bronnie Taylor said the issue was a national one caused by supply and demand, and what needed to be done was a regulated cap on local payments at a federal level.

The introduction of a state cap on payments was not possible as doctors would just choose to work in Queensland or the Northern Territory instead of NSW, she said.

Some private recruitment firms were necessary, she said, "because it's not in NSW Health's best interest to be a recruitment agency".

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