Health Minister Jillian Skinner says she's "not going anywhere" following the latest revelation of a baby's body being cremated by mistake and has pushed aside criticism about a lack of transparency.
News that Sydney's Royal North Shore hospital cremated a 20-week gestation baby boy without first performing an autopsy, as the parents requested, was revealed by Fairfax Media on Saturday morning.
That was also the first Ms Skinner had heard of it, she told reporters in an afternoon press conference on her front lawn.
The cremation error is the second such incident at the same hospital, with a 2015 case coming to light earlier in the week involving two babies' bodies being mixed up and then cremated, despite one set of parents requesting a burial.
The Northern Sydney Local Health District, which is responsible for the hospital, says staff apologised to the parents of the 2012 baby soon after the incident and is now getting external experts to review the processes at its mortuary.
"I have no record of any other cremations in error," a spokesman said.
Ms Skinner said the health system could only learn from its mistakes but it was impossible to entirely avoid human error.
"I'm always cranky when errors are made but I'm more sad," Ms Skinner said.
"I'm sad that we make errors that have an impact on families and I extend my sympathy and apologies to them."
But the health minister did not apologise for the news coming to light four years after the incident occurred.
"There's a real balance here of patient privacy," she said.
Before the cremation bungles were revealed, Ms Skinner was already under pressure following a baby gassing tragedy at the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital and a chemotherapy crisis at St Vincent's.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley said there was a "culture of cover-up" and it was time the health minister stepped down.
"Mr (Mike) Baird has to do the right thing and appoint a new health minister," he said.
Ms Skinner said calls for her resignation were expected but medical professionals want her to stay.
"I have hundreds of text messages and emails of support," she said.
"I am not going anywhere."
