Families across NSW will benefit from more staff, more services and more hospitals as the Minns Labor Government delivers the largest increase to the health budget in the state’s history.
This $10.3 billion investment over four years will help recruit an additional 9,000 health workers, deliver record pay rises for nurses and midwives, expand services and ensure new hospitals are properly staffed when they open.
Because hospitals only work if there are people inside them caring for patients.
More services
The 2026-27 NSW Budget will support:
- Approximately 33,000 more emergency department (ED) presentations per year
- An additional 2,900 planned surgeries per year
- Around 16,000 inpatient services including emergency surgeries per year
- A boost to available renal dialysis care by 11,000 sessions per year
NSW public hospitals have faced mounting pressure over recent decades, as the number of presentations increase and the complexity of cases worsen.
The Minns Labor Government has already made significant investments to relieve pressure in busy EDs by providing patients with pathways to care outside of the hospital, including:
- The expansion of virtual care services across NSW and $224 million invested for urgent care services
- Expansion of ED Short Stay Units and Hospital in the Home as part of the half a billion dollar ED Relief Package in the 2024-25 Budget
As a result of these measures, the number of semi-urgent and non-urgent patients presenting to EDs has decreased as more people seek care from the comfort of their home or local urgent care services. The number of overdue surgeries has also decreased.
More staff and higher wages
The record investment in health will support the recruitment of an additional 9,000 health workers over the next four years, including nurses, allied health workers, and paramedics.
The 2026-27 NSW Budget will provide a further $2.9 billion to boost the wages of nurses and midwives, delivering them their largest pay rise in more than a decade.
This pay rise means Registered Nurses year 8 and above are more than $300 better off each week than they were under the Coalition’s wages cap. They will be more than $450 better off each week at the end of the new award.
By significantly boosting pay and ending more than a decade of wage suppression by abolishing the former government’s wages cap, NSW will be able to recruit and retain the essential workers our health system needs.
Since 2023, nurse retention has increased to 93.7 per cent and more than 5,300 FTE nurses have been recruited, including 916 through the rollout of Safe Staffing Levels.
Since being elected, the Minns Labor Government has also recruited:
- More than 740 paramedics
- More than 1400 doctors
- More than 1500 allied health workers
Making sure new hospitals have the staff and services to care for patients
The record-breaking funding delivered in this Budget will support the opening and expansion of new hospitals and health services, ensuring they are ready to deliver care to patients.
This will provide more than 80 additional beds, expanded emergency and outpatient treatment spaces, operating theatres, maternity and birthing services, and cancer care.
This includes funding to:
- Fully open and operate four new major hospital developments – John Hunter, Shoalhaven, Nepean and Eurobodalla – which will provide capacity for the State’s increasing demand for our services. This includes emergency care, surgery, and care for newborns
- Enhance services in Western Sydney, with Nepean Hospital providing more renal care, and Liverpool Hospital patients receiving greater access to medical imaging
- Open 10 Emergency Department Short Stay Unit beds in Ballina and Grafton to improve patient flow through our busy emergency departments
- Support our regional communities to access world class care, with the funding of services at Milton-Ulladulla, Wollongong, Cowra, Blayney, Moree, Muswellbrook, and Finley
The former Coalition government built hospitals with no funding for the staff who run them, leaving more than 1,100 nurses unfunded.
The Minns Government has corrected this, permanently funding those nurses and ensuring the health facilities opening in coming years are appropriately staffed.
The 2026-27 NSW Budget complements the significant investment the Minns Labor Government has made over the past three years, including:
- The roll out of Safe Staffing Levels, with implementation already underway in 78 emergency departments across the state.
- $200 million since 2024 to reduce overdue surgeries, including more than $23 million in 2025-26.
- The state’s first High Volume Planned Surgery Hub at Northern Beaches Hospital, which is expected to perform up to 5,000 additional surgeries from 1 July.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said:
“This is a record investment, underpinned by a record pay increase for the nurses and midwives who deliver exceptional care for the people of NSW every single day.
“A decade of Liberal and National wage suppression not only hurt individual workers, but it damaged the entire health system.
“Labor is rebuilding this essential service through better pay, more staff and more services.”
Minister for Health Ryan Park said:
“We are delivering more staff and more services, giving nurses their largest pay rise in more than a decade – all without privatisation.
“This record investment secures the future of healthcare in NSW, ensuring we can continue to deliver the services people need now while building long-term sustainability for the future.
“As the population gets older, health systems around the world are experiencing significant pressure – this health funding boost, the largest by far in the history of our state, reflects the enormity of this challenge and the priorities of this government.
“If it were up to the Coalition, not only would there be fewer hospitals but there would be fewer health workers in our health system and they would be paid less.”
