"The inquiry has repeatedly been told the Iemma Labor Government needs to give the hospital more beds, more nurses and more resources and that Morris Iemma and Reba Meagher need to start listening to frontline health workers," Mr O'Farrell said.

"Any failure to address these key issues would confirm the inquiry has failed and that it should have been conducted at arms length from the political process," he said.

"Based on the evidence before the committee, there are several critical recommendations the public should expect, including:

• An extra 70 beds: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF) submission (no. 32) called on the Iemma Government to "immediately increase the number of beds at RNSH by 70 and provide adequate resources to staff and operate these beds". On Monday 12 November Dr Antony Salla Sara, ASMOF President told the committee: "Royal North Shore needs about another 70 beds to achieve that 85 per cent occupancy rate" to bring the bed occupancy rate down from 95 percent, which is considered unsafe.

• Filling the 100 nursing vacancies: Linda Davidson, Acting Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services at RNSH told the committee on Monday 12 December that "Royal North Shore Hospital has 100.3 full-time equivalent vacancies". Submission 27 from the RNSH Emergency Department showed there were 10.53 nursing vacancies in the ED alone during the month of October (the latest available figure).

• Boosting Emergency Specialist positions to conform with Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee (AMWAC) standards: Submission 27 from Dr Robert Day the head of the RNSH Emergency Department stated: "Extra senior medical cover on evenings and weekends will improve patient care. The current 9.8 FTE Emergency Specialist positions at RNSH ED should be immediately increased to the AMWAC recommendation of 11 to 16". Dr Sally McCarthy Vice-President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACME) told the committee on Monday 12 December that "the Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee's (AMWAC) second report in 2003 noted that large tertiary emergency departments such as the department at Royal North Shore Hospital should have at least 12 to 16 emergency physicians per department".  And that "the lack of senior medical staff in emergency departments is a key factor in explaining problems to patients encountering less than optimal care in emergency departments".

• Reinstating Royal North Shore Hospital budget: Leaked documents obtained by Jillian Skinner show Royal North Shore and Ryde Hospital's budget for 2006/07 was $359 million. Morris Iemma and Reba Meagher slashed their budget by $13 million, to $346 million for 2007/2008. The budget must be reinstated to previous levels, and increased if additional staff and beds are to be provided.

• Consulting staff on the facilities required in the hospital’s redevelopment: Staff complain they have been cut out of the planning process for a redeveloped Royal North Shore Hospital facility. Health workers on the frontline must have a say on how to develop the best facility in the interests of patient care.

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