Taxpayer funds used to pay for the treatment of sick people in Dubbo are not being reduced, state Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders says.
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"Having a look at figures specific to my region, the Western NSW Local Heath District is receiving $979 million in funding this financial year, which is an increase of $35 million on the 2018/19 budget," Mr Saunders told the Daily Liberal.
His comments came after a union and the NSW Opposition circulated documents which it claimed proved the state government was cutting about a quarter of a billion dollars from the NSW Health budget.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association general secretary Brett Holmes said the documents leaked to the Opposition revealed NSW Health must save $252 million in 2019/20 to help pay for the government's election promises.
"For months we've had reports of horrendous short staffing issues and widespread accounts of nurse staffing vacancies being left unfilled for weeks on end," Mr Holmes said.
"We were...told the Western NSW Local Health District had to find positions it could cut...people accessing our public hospitals deserve to know they're walking into a properly resourced, adequately funded health facility, not a hospital struggling under the constraints of Treasury caps."
According to Mr Saunders, the Secretary of NSW Health said the claims made in the documents the Opposition and union promoted were incorrect.
"I have personally been in contact with the [Health] Minister's office and have been told there are no cuts to the budget, nor a Treasury cap," he said.
A NSW Health spokesperson said more frontline staff were being hired, not less.
"The Secretary for Health can confirm that all health districts and specialty health networks received budget increases for the 2019/20 financial year," the spokesperson said
"There were no budget cuts and the health budget was $24 billion."
