NSW health budget fails to deliver for patients

Handing down his third budget, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey announced a $12.4 billion investment in healthcare – including $3.3 billion this year – but critics say the Minns Government is pouring concrete while patients wait in pain.

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman accused NSW Premier Chris Minns and Health Minister Ryan Park of focusing on spin rather than solutions.

“Chris Minns has driven surgery wait times back to their pandemic peak. He has cut the health budget two years in a row after inflation, he’s picked fights with doctors, nurses and midwives and he’s let surgery wait times skyrocket,” Speakman said.

The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) report paints a grim picture: more than 100,670 patients are currently on the elective surgery waiting list – just shy of the record set during the pandemic. Alarmingly, over 8,500 people are now waiting longer than clinically recommended, a 151% increase on the previous quarter.

NSW Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane said the data simply confirms what frontline clinicians have been saying for months – the system is breaking, and patients are paying the price.

“This isn’t just a blowout in wait times – it’s a breakdown in patient care. Behind every one of those patients waiting longer than clinically recommend is someone in pain, waiting for a diagnosis or trying to restore some quality of life,” Sloane said.

The Australian Medical Association (NSW) President, Dr Kathryn Austin, slammed the budget for lacking the meaningful health system investment patients urgently need.

“This week, we saw reports of Western Sydney patients waiting up to a year for cancer diagnoses and vulnerable neonates being cared for in storerooms and corridors. This is at a time when the NSW Government is neglecting to introduce reforms which would see it collect $1 billion from clubs providing gambling services. This is money that could help patients desperately needing healthcare and it is beyond appalling that patients are suffering while funding is clearly available,” she said.

Regional patients haven’t been spared either. NSW Shadow Minister for Regional Health, Gurmesh Singh, revealed that rural hospitals are now experiencing the worst delays in the country.

“The latest data shows 2,092 patients in rural hospitals waited longer than clinically recommend for surgery in the March quarter – a whopping 1,479 increase compared to June last year. Patients are waiting too long for important surgery in regional NSW and it was time Chris Minns offered up solutions instead of his usual spin,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, the government is pouring billions into buildings while neglecting the people needed to staff them. Dr Austin warned the infrastructure spend is hollow without workforce support.

“It is deeply concerning the NSW Government is spending $3.3 billion in this budget on building or upgrading hospitals, yet there is little to no funding to grow the health workforce in any meaningful way. In the past year, doctors have reported their local health districts are up to $100 million over budget, resulting in recruitment freezes, no funding for new services and the closure of beds,” Dr Austin explained.

She continued, “Funding new buildings will not alleviate the pressure on doctors, nurses and allied health staff trying to deliver timely care, nor will the one-off $23 million allocated to reduce elective surgery waiting lists have any real impact for patients without ongoing, sustainable funding.”

Despite all the rhetoric, there is also no money in this budget for preventive health – a glaring omission as demand for tertiary care continues to escalate.

AMA (NSW) estimates that up to 400 additional beds per year are needed to keep up with the state’s healthcare needs. Even the government’s own Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding called for urgent investment in the healthcare workforce.

“Sadly, there is no real plan for the future of healthcare in this budget and the patients of NSW deserve better,” Dr Austin emphasised.

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