As concerning bed shortages at Sydney's largest hospital leave people languishing in waiting rooms, NSW has set about paying a premium to free up beds in a regional hospital.
Premier Chris Minns on Tuesday expressed concern over the long waits at Westmead Hospital with only two in five patients starting treatment on time.
One woman told Nine she spent half a day in the waiting room and more than two days in a short-stay bed awaiting admission.
"It is obviously very traumatic for those that need urgent medical help," Mr Minns said.
He said staff were working around the clock and doing it tough, underlining the pressing need for the government to increase health workers' pay and conditions to keep them fleeing to other states or industries.
While no longer a national target, NSW maintains the aim to discharge, transfer or admit 81 per cent of all people who present to a public hospital emergency department within four hours.
The median wait at Westmead was more than five hours in every quarter in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
At the same time, median wait times statewide rose three-and-a-quarter-hours for the first time since 2012.
The crunch on emergency departments and ward beds led NSW on Tuesday to turn to boosting aged care funding south of Sydney.
Under an agreement with the federal government, NSW pays three-quarters of the bill for 35 new transitional aged care beds in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, allowing elderly patients to be discharged sooner from local hospitals.
The number of patients in local hospitals each day awaiting transfer to a residential aged care facility recently jumped to 92, more than double the long-term average.
"This no doubt creates a level of uncertainty for patients and their loved ones because they are forced to wait in hospital," NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said.
"It also impacts access to beds for other patients needing admission to our public hospitals.
"This relief package will enable more elderly patients, who are well enough for discharge, to be cared for in a more appropriate facility while at the same time making more hospital beds available."
The beds are part of a two-year extension of the nationwide Transition Care Programme to June 2025.
Older people are provided with up to 12 weeks of therapy-focused care and support services.
Labor went to the March election promising to hire 1200 new nurses, deliver 600 new beds in Western Sydney and implement mandatory minimum staffing levels for nurses and midwives in public hospitals
"To date, we’ve seen no progress on the delivery of these commitments, and a government that is distracted by an ongoing industrial dispute with the Health Services Union," Opposition leader Mark Speakman said.
