''The only thing that is clear at the moment about Mr Rudd's hospital proposal is that it is yet another broken promise,'' Mr Abbott said.

''He said it would be nationally funded and locally run wrong on both counts.

''The money has got to go through three new layers of bureaucracy before it gets to the hospitals a national bureaucracy, a state bureaucracy and an area bureaucracy and whether they're locally run will depend entirely on the state governments.''

Mr Rudd said Mr Abbott could read the ''detailed communique'' outlining the agreement struck at the Council of Australian Governments meeting.

''My challenge ... to Mr Abbott today is to provide two simple, plain-speaking guarantees,'' Mr Rudd said yesterday during a visit to the Royal Hobart Hospital.

''The first is to guarantee he will not use his numbers in the Senate to block the necessary legislation to give effect to the National Health and Hospitals Network and secondly, to provide a clear-cut guarantee that if he was to win the next election that he would not overturn these reforms or change them.''

Under the pact, the Commonwealth will fully fund aged care and primary health services as well as become the dominant funder of public hospitals.

States and territories will hand over a third of GST revenue for the reforms a sticking point for West Australian Premier Colin Barnett, the only one to reject the deal.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon who was in Perth yesterday warned West Australians risked missing out on benefits of the plan if Mr Barnett refused to sign.