Healthscope, the country’s second-largest hospital operator, has received emergency funding from private equity owner Brookfield and warned soaring wages mean it is on borrowed time unless it secures government help urgently or more money from insurers.

Brookfield, the Canadian global asset manager, has contributed “tens of millions” to give Healthscope more time to renegotiate its $1.6 billion in debt with a consortium of increasingly nervous lenders, sources close to the situation but not authorised to speak publicly said on Sunday.