NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has rejected claims she was "in hiding" following a damning report on the chemotherapy scandal enveloping Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.
"In the morning, I was undergoing my own medical procedure and I was unavailable to comment," Ms Skinner told 2GB Radio on Thursday.
The minister says she provided a briefing for Acting Premier Troy Grant on Wednesday once she was made aware of calls for a special commission of inquiry into the bungle.
The scandal deepened on Tuesday after Ms Skinner's department released a report which found the St Vincent's Hospital had been slow to respond to concerns its oncologist Dr John Grygiel was under-dosing cancer patients.
It said that of the 78 patients treated with low doses of a chemotherapy drug between 2012 and 2015, 23 had since died - three of non-cancer causes and four of an unspecified cause.
The government-ordered inquiry was unable to attribute their deaths to the incorrect dosing.
But it found St Vincent's was made aware of the practices as early as 2005 and misled the public about the incident after the revelations were aired in a media report.
"Junior pharmacists, nurses and doctors who have practised in medical oncology at St Vincent's Hospital during these years have either challenged the practice or sought an explanation for it," the report also said.
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham, who with Labor called for a special commission of inquiry into the scandal, accused Ms Skinner of "hiding behind" the two independent inquiries currently examining the bungle.
But Ms Skinner, who sent out a media release on the report when it was released, again argued that she had full confidence the inquiries would address issues arising from the case.
"(And) I have no authority in relation to the hospital per se. It is run by the St Vincent's board," she said.
St Vincent's Hospital apologised to patients, their families and the public on Tuesday, saying it had not lived up to the "the high standards we set ourselves".
"We failed to appreciate the seriousness of the situation: early questions about the doctor's dosage practice should have led to a formal examination," it said in a statement.
Dr Grygiel was stood down in February and is currently overseas.
His lawyer, Stephen Blanks, told AAP his client was looking forward to giving his evidence to the inquiry when he returns.
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