Doctors believe NSW rural health is in crisis, pointing to avoidable deaths and waiting times blow outs, in their evidence to a state parliamentary inquiry.

The comments are among hundreds of submissions to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into rural and regional healthcare, many featuring accounts from anonymous nurses and doctors. 

In one, the partner of a rural non-GP specialist described life with the sole member of a specialty in a region the size of Germany. 

He said she would describe numerous near misses and challenging clinical situations at one remote hospital, including the young man who died of sepsis from an infected toenail.