Construction has begun on a new Hunter ambulance station, as the Minns government makes some progress on tackling troubles in the region's health sector.
Swansea MP Yasmin Catley joined paramedics on Friday to turn the first sod on the new station at Caves Beach.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Wednesday that ambulance resources in the Hunter were so stretched that paramedics sometimes struggle to get enough crews to help the sickest patients.
"That's even for cardiac arrests and heart attacks," said paramedic Tim Hilliar, a Hunter delegate for the Australian Paramedics Association NSW.
Mr Hilliar waited with an assault victim at John Hunter Hospital for eight hours a few weeks ago, amid the continuing problems of ambulance ramping and bed block.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has been urged to boost beds at John Hunter, which nurses say is short by 40 to 65 beds every day.
Ms Catley, the Minister for the Hunter, said "I know people are waiting too long".
"We need to fix that," she said.
Construction of the Caves Beach ambulance station is expected to be complete in late 2027.
The paramedics association has been advocating for more paramedics and ambulance stations in the Hunter to match the growing population.
The association says the government is years behind schedule on its plan to build ambulance stations and boost paramedics in the Hunter.
New stations are also planned at Gateshead, East Maitland, Edgeworth and North Rothbury.
However, ambulance ramping has been getting worse at Hunter hospitals for years.
This is highlighted by the percentage of patients transferred from paramedics to emergency department staff within 30 minutes. The January to March quarter in 2017 to the same quarter this year shows this trend starkly.
The percentage falls include: John Hunter (92.7 per cent to 64.5 per cent), Calvary Mater (88.6 per cent to 62.4 per cent), Maitland (99.1 per cent to 50.3 per cent) and Belmont (97.5 per cent to 81.1 per cent).
Ms Catley said the community had been calling for the Caves Beach station "for quite some time".
"Paramedics say this will fill the gap from Doyalson to Belmont," she said.
The Herald also asked Ms Catley about the future of John Hunter.
A new seven-storey acute services building will soon be open there, but health officials hope stage two of the redevelopment will be on Labor's agenda ahead of the March state election.
The Minns government has not committed funding for the extra beds needed for the hospital's expansion.
When acute services are moved to the new building this year, they will mirror the capacity in the old building.
Ms Catley said she had conversations with Hunter New England Health chief executive Tracey McCosker about the future of the John Hunter site.
"I absolutely believe we need more services. We need to look at how we provide those services, looking at John Hunter and the Mater," she said.
Stage two involves plans for a new building expected to cost at least $900 million, with enough beds to accommodate the full capacity of the new acute services building.
A business case for the hospital expansion from 2022 said "an additional 136 hospital inpatient beds" were needed at the hospital.
