The New South Wales Government has announced an extra $1 billion will be invested in the NSW health system for the financial year, bringing the total investment in the state’s health infrastructure to $18.3 billion.

 

State Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, said the spend on health is a 5.4 per cent increase compared to the previous year and will allow for the growing demand for hospital care.

 

Ms Skinner said the investment public health will provide for an extra 50,000 emergency department presentations, 30,000 additional acute inpatient services including 2,000 more elective surgery procedures, and improved intensive care services including:

 

  • $5.6 million for additional adult intensive care services at Gosford, Prince of Wales, Nepean and Liverpool Hospitals
  • $1.4 million for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network to enhance paediatric intensive care services to improve critical care services for children
  • $2.8 million for additional neonatal intensive care services at John Hunter Children’s and Westmead Hospitals

 

On 1 July 2012 NSW begins the move to the new Activity Based Funding (ABF) model for public hospitals which will provide a clearer, more transparent basis for funding and comparing hospital costs.

 

New major capital works projects for the metropolitan area include:

 

  • $16 million to begin construction on Stage One of the $270 million Blacktown Mount Druitt Hospital expansion
  • $3.5 million for Stage One of the $120 million Hornsby Hospital redevelopment
  •  $31.7 million to upgrade car park facilities at Blacktown, Nepean and Wollongong Hospitals

 

Rural and regional capital works projects include:

 

  • $1.5 million to upgrade Cessnock Hospital’s Emergency Department
  • $6.8 million for the $170 million Bega Hospital
  • $17.7 million for the $220 million Tamworth Stage Two Redevelopment