NSW Health Minister Ryan Park says hospitals aren’t ‘chasing customers’ amid hospital funding stoush
The NSW Health Minister called on Canberra bureaucrats to ‘spend a day’ at a busy Sydney emergency department ahead of an all-important meeting to solve the hospital funding standoff.
Federal boffins have been called to “spend a day in the shoes” of a public hospital emergency department worker, as states continue their fight for increased hospital funding to relieve bed block.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park fought back against past comments from Anthony Albanese that the Commonwealth could only meet the promised 42.5 per cent funding split if states reduce their growing hospital spends and bring “costs to more sustainable levels”.
The comments were made in a letter to state and territory health ministers two weeks ago.
Asked how NSW could keep federal government accountable to the initial funding commitment, Mr Park said hospitals were not “chasing customers”.
“People are coming in droves, they’re coming because their sick, they’re coming because they haven’t been able to manage a condition through primary care,” he said.
While hospitals are managed by the states, federal governments are responsible for GP bulk-billing initiatives.
“At the moment, we’ve been asked to provide acute public health services as well as aged care as well as NDIS, but (the Commonwealth) won’t give you any funding for it”.
Mr Park said federal bureaucrats in charge of administering funding should work a day in a public hospital EDs to understand the demand.
“I would love (for) one of these public servants to spend a day in the shoes of someone at one of our big EDS, to see what type of patients are coming through the door and then go back and say that the advice is you lock the gate at 6 o’clock”.
State and territory health ministers will meet with their federal counterpart Mark Butler next Friday in hopes to break the stalled hospital funding deal.
The stalemate comes after the Commonwealth walked away from its original commitment to uplift funding for public hospitals to 42.5 per cent by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035.
Mr Park said the public health system was currently being crippled by bed block as a result of the go-slow by the Commonwealth.
In NSW there are currently about 1200 patients ready for discharge, however are facing lengthy months-long waits for a place in aged care or NDIS support.
Mr Park also defended wage rises for public nurses, paramedics and hospital staff and said “competitive wages” were crucial for staff retention.
This included an 8.5 per cent rise over two years for hospital cleaners, allied health workers and other health staff in 2025, a 25 per cent increase in the four years to 2027 for paramedics and an interim 3 per cent boost for nurses and midwives, despite ongoing calls for a 35 per cent uplift over three years.
“We had wage suppression in this state for close to a decade that put pressure on retention and recruitment rates … for the first time, we are starting now to get nursing retention back to around 93 per cent,” said Mr Park.
Mr Butler said he remained committed to resolving the funding stalemate by the end of the year, however said it was “crucial” for all governments to work together.
Most recently, the federal government promised an additional $20bn over five years, however this was shot down by the states who demanded an extra $8bn to $10bn.
“The Commonwealth has increased its funding to the New South Wales hospital system by 11 per cent in this financial year. This is an additional $985m taking up NSW hospital funding to $9.88bn in 2025-26.”
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Originally published as NSW Health Minister Ryan Park says hospitals aren’t ‘chasing customers’ amid hospital funding stoush
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