NSW Health has acknowledged that leaving a paramedic to run a NSW hospital was not a "perfect" decision after staff wrote an open letter calling conditions in the hospital dangerous.
The admission comes after 24 clinical staff from Yass Hospital in the Southern Tablelands wrote a letter to the NSW government saying the community was at "risk of harm" and urgent action was needed, Nine Newspapers reported.
The letter alleged no registered nurse was available in the days leading up to Christmas, and the hospital was run by a fill-in doctor and enrolled nurse.
In the following days NSW Health brought in a paramedic, who then ran Yass Hospital with an enrolled nurse.
Susan Pearce, Secretary of NSW Health, told budget estimates on Thursday she was aware of staff concerns about conditions around Christmas time.
She said a significant number of registered nurses became COVID-19 close contacts during this period and could not work, and NSW Health had sourced an intensive care paramedic to work at the hospital before Christmas.
"I'm not saying what we did by any stretch of the imagination was perfect, but what we did do under very difficult circumstances was attempt to keep the hospital, particularly the emergency department (operating)," she said.
Ms Pearce was "personally involved" in the decisions over hospital staffing in her role as the state health emergency operations control centre operator for COVID-19, she said.
She said it was important to note Yass was an hour from Goulburn and 45 minutes drive from Canberra, and, "We could not leave that emergency department unattended with no staff".
The Southern NSW Local Health District is now working with the Nurses and Midwives Association to address the concerns of staff from Yass Hospital, Ms Pearce said.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said about 6100 NSW Health staff were furloughed or considered close contacts during the Omicron outbreak.
"We have had amazing staff who were able to go from one hospital to another and worked long hours," Mr Hazzard said.
Mr Hazzard said Yass had its own staffing challenges but attracting doctors to regional centres was a national issue in states, whatever their political persuasion.
