The same report identified that the total trade creditors decreased from $28.2 million to $22.9 million.

Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said The Auditor General’s report confirmed Labor was failing to deliver for patients and medical staff across GSAHS.

Emergency triage performance worsened in categories two (imminently life threatening) and three (potentially life threatening) and emergency admissions performance decreased from 87 per cent in 2007/2008 to 81 per cent in 2008/2009.

“In all my time in the Health portfolio, I’ve never seen such a long litany of complaints from the Auditor General - it is unprecedented,” Mrs Skinner said.

“Labor has comprehensively failed in so many areas in the health portfolio, from cutting staff including nurses, failing to pay bills on time and worsening emergency department performance figures, Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt has a lot of explaining to do.”

In a statement GSAHS’ Chief Executive Officer Heather Gray congratulated hospital staff for again meeting or exceeding the NSW Health benchmarks for timeliness in treating emergency patients in all five triage categories and for exceeding the benchmark for emergency admissions.

Ms Grey said the service experienced increased expenses last financial year due to a rise in food services costs and the number of inter-area and inter-state patient outflows, where patients who live in GSAHS are treated outside the area or state.

Ms Grey said GSAHS was working on a number of strategies to improve the services’ financial position, not only in regard to creditors but overall budget performance.

“GSAHS acknowledges the recommendations of the NSW Auditor General and will continue efforts to ensure we pay creditors on time and operate within budget,” she said.

“We strive to ensure creditors are managed and paid on time, however we acknowledge from time to time this has not happened and we regret any delays.”

Ms Gray said GSAHS was improving the budget monitoring processes to ensure the service operated within the allocated budget.

“Redesigning services to reduce waste, improve efficiency and improve and maintain safe patient care are priorities for the Area Health Service,” Ms Grey said.