Ryan Park has been sworn in as the New South Wales Health Minister, following Labor’s win in that state’s election on the weekend of 25 March.
Mr Park had been the shadow health minister and minister for mental health in Opposition. He was sworn in on Tuesday, along with new NSW Premier Chris Minns, as part of a skeleton cabinet.
NSW Labor made healthcare a central component of its election campaign, after a Health Services Union (HSU) report outlined a “chronic misallocation of resources and warped priorities around health”.
The HSU had called for a Royal Commission into the NSW health service and Mr Park said preparatory work on a wide-ranging inquiry would begin as soon as possible.
“Over the coming weeks and months, we will finalise the terms of reference and will make sure funding is allocated to commence this important work,” Mr Park told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Over the coming weeks and months, we will finalise the terms of reference and will make sure funding is allocated to commence this important work
“It’s a priority of mine because it will provide an opportunity to examine how we are allocating precious taxpayers’ dollars and whether we can do it better to ensure we are doing everything possible to deliver the best health services for the community,” he said.
As one of their first acts in office, Premier Chris Minns and Mr Park announced a surgical care task force to tackle the pressure on waiting lists.
Mr Minns said the taskforce would “look specifically at the elective surgery waiting list, at the over 100,000 people that are currently waiting… including the 17,000 that are waiting longer than clinically recommended in NSW”.
