The State Government says it will spend $23 million to reduce overdue surgeries as part of the 2025-26 Budget, with Labor's MLC for Western NSW Stephen Lawrence saying his government has made "significant progress in reducing the overdue surgeries that we inherited" from the previous government.

New figures this month from the Bureau of Health Information revealed an increase of 1745 overdue surgeries in the last quarter alone, taking the total to 8587 patients, however the State Government says this is still down from around 14,000 in March 2023 when they established the Surgical Care Governance Taskforce after winning the election.

The latest funding boost is expected to facilitate around 3500 additional planned surgeries over the coming year, directly targeting patients who have waited longer than clinically recommended.

The Government attributes the recent rise to disruptions from Tropical Cyclone Alfred in northern NSW and ongoing workforce availability issues in various parts of the state.

Mr Lawrence said Emergency Departments have enjoyed a significant decrease in semi-urgent and non-urgent presentations over the past year.

He pointed to the areas where performance had improved in the Western NSW Health District – semi-urgent presentations decreased by 7.2 per cent (1580 patients) and non-urgent presentations by 7.6 per cent (645 patients).

“For 12 years, the Liberals neglected our health system, presiding over a record number of overdue surgeries," Mr Lawrence said.

"From day one, tackling overdue surgeries has been our priority.

"But we know there’s always more that we can do to improve the accessibility of planned surgeries,” he said.