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An artist’s impression of the $527 million redevelopment of Ryde Hospital,one of the hospital projects to receive additional funding in the upcoming state budget.Credit:

The additional funding includes $47.8 million towards the redevelopment of Ryde Hospital,increasing the total cost of the long-promised upgrade from $479 million to $526.8 million.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said additional funds would go towards delivering the infrastructure already promised to Ryde and surrounding communities,including a new emergency department,inpatient ward and “cutting-edge imaging and diagnostic services”.

He said while rising construction costs had fuelled the growth in spending,the government was focused on improving hospitals and health services in “growing communities” where infrastructure was most needed.

“The reality is the previous government didn’t set aside adequate funding for many of these projects given cost escalation across the construction sector,” Park said. “We’re making these investments so that the hospital projects that have been promised can be delivered and stay on track.”

The two largest infrastructure outlays in the health budget are a $265 million upgrade of Port Macquarie Hospital,which will include expanded emergency and maternity services for the state’s Mid North Coast,and $250 million towards addressing a maintenance backlog of critical medical equipment,facilities and IT infrastructure across the state’s health system.

Park said the new projects and blowouts on existing projects would not affect the government’s other health priorities,including boosting nurse numbers and wages. “We’re making record investments in the health workforce and this means we can staff these hospitals once developments are complete,” he said.

The Ryde Hospital upgrade was announced by then-premier Gladys Berejiklianbefore the 2019 state election.

After briefly considering a proposal to relocate to the Macquarie University campus,the Coalition decided to forge ahead with the redevelopment of the existing hospital site.

The Minns government appointed a building contractor in January,five years after the project was announced,and expects construction to begin “around mid-year”.

Costs have blown out fora range of major infrastructure projects,including Metro West and the Western Harbour Tunnel.

The extra spending on health infrastructure is an added headache for a government that has also committed torecruiting more doctors and nurses and given paramedics a 25 per cent pay rise. That is without considering the 15 per cent pay rise demanded by the 50,000 nurses who comprise NSW Health’s largest workforce.

In a bid to address the rising cost of agency fees for locum doctors,the government has also committed $6.3 million to assess the feasibility of a centralised,government-run locum agency that would pair doctors with temporary vacancies.

Dozens of private recruit companiesare making millions of dollars a year acting as intermediaries between NSW Health and a growing pool of doctors who work as “hired guns”. Some roles can earn between $3000 and $4000 per day,and come with accommodation,travel and car hire.

Greens MP Amanda Cohn – who worked as a locum or temporary doctor in regional towns across the state before entering politics – told parliament last year that agents had discouraged her from accepting placements “before the hospital was offering crisis rates”.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said taking locum recruitment in-house would “drive down rising external fees and put more money back into the health workforce”.

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