Sydney's Nepean Hospital would get a much-needed $370 million upgrade under a Labor state government.
NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley made the promise at a rally outside the hospital at Kingswood in western Sydney on Sunday, saying health will be a key battleground in the next state election in 2019.
"Western Sydney can't wait any longer. Patients, doctors and nurses have been strung along for too long by this government," Mr Foley said in a statement released on Sunday.
Labor says Nepean Hospital patients face some of the longest delays in NSW for both emergency treatment and elective surgery, and that an upgrade is long overdue.
In the statement, Labor slammed the NSW government's "paltry" $1 million pledge in planning for the hospital's development in its budget.
"When patients suffering heart attacks can't be admitted because the roof is crumbling it is clear that the situation is critical," Mr Foley said.
The announcement has come amid a slew of embarrassments for the NSW government and Health Minister Jillian Skinner, including a fatal gas mix-up at another western Sydney hospital which led to the death of a baby boy and the suspected brain damage of a baby girl.
While Ms Skinner has apologised to the families of the victims, who were mistakenly given nitrous oxide or "laughing gas" instead of oxygen at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in June and July this year, she has come under pressure from the NSW opposition to resign.
Labor's promised $370 million would go to an enhanced cancer centre, new birthing suites, an improved emergency department and better renal, cardiology and neurology services.
