Mounting debt at public hospitals has reportedly forced patients and staff into untenable situations, but the NSW Government says the health system is not in crisis.
Premier Nathan Rees and other state premiers are meeting individually with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra this week to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis.
NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca said the Premier's meeting yesterday was to include a discussion about $2.5 billion worth of projects the state Government had requested from the Commonwealth's Hospital and Health Fund.
The discussion comes as two independent reports commissioned by the state Government last year revealed the NSW health budget was facing a funding shortfall of almost $1billion.
Also, NSW Health owes $117 million in unpaid bills, leading to claims some public hospitals were not paying their doctors and suppliers.
Reports have surfaced that patients had gone without morphine at Dubbo Base Hospital, and staff used their own money to buy meat for Mudgee Hospital.
Mr Rees spoke briefly to reporters on his way into his meeting with Mr Rudd but would not provide direct answers about hospital funding.
''Everything is on the table. We've said repeatedly we've got Australia's largest infrastructure program under way at present, $56billion, underpinning 150,000 jobs each year for the next four years,'' Mr Rees said.
''That may not be enough, we may want to do more and that's exactly what I want to talk to the Prime Minister about.''
But a spokesman for Mr Rees said the meeting was not about securing federal funds for specific projects.
Mr Della Bosca praised NSW's ''great health system'', labelling it ''among the best in the world''.
He said any funds that became available would be used to address ailing infrastructure and to streamline processes.
''The challenge is to make sure that we use those dollars wisely, we make sure clinicians and local management work together for great patient outcomes and are a useful and appropriate use of taxpayer dollars,'' he said.
Doctors Reform Society vice-president Con Costa questioned why the Federal Government could prop up ailing big business, but not properly fund a public hospital system on which millions of people relied.
''They've got these buckets of money they seem to have to give the struggling car industry and the big banks, yet they sit on their hands when it comes to the public hospital system,'' Dr Costa said.
The NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association said prolonged underfunding of hospitals meant a review of health administration was now necessary.
''The crisis point has been reached. Inability to pay suppliers is symptomatic of deeper problems and the ultimate concern is the welfare of patients,'' the association's NSW president, Brian Morton, said.
Federal Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton urged the Prime Minister to take charge.
''It's time that Mr Rudd stood in and said to the Australian people what he is going to do to fix health in this country.''
There was no sense in giving good money after bad to NSW, Mr Dutton said. ''They have run hospitals into the ground.'' AAP
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