Patients and staff in NSW hospitals could be getting an unexpected visitor, as Labor focuses on slashing surgery waiting lists and easing the load on packed emergency departments.
The newly-minted Health Minister Ryan Park says he will make a surprise visit to a public hospital every week "to try and get a real sense of what's happening".
It followed a visit he made with Premier Chris Minns to Westmead Children's Hospital about midnight to speak with patients and staff about their experiences working overnights in a busy western Sydney emergency department.
"I intend to do it at different times of the day," he told reporters at Liverpool Hospital on Tuesday.
"I'm doing it ... to learn, to engage with the frontline, to see for myself what those roadblocks are, so I can understand when I'm in briefs with the department what those challenges are.
"I can also pick up some things that might not have brought up to me, directly from frontline workers."
Although Labor in opposition said the system was in crisis, Mr Park said the new government wanted to make a "very good system better" and he wasn't interested in chastising anyone during his unannounced drop-ins.
"It's about hearing and listening to the men and women who operate the system," he said.
Having shadow ministers with an ear to the ground was a major asset for Labor in opposition and that would be continued in government, the premier said.
It comes as the government announced a plan to slash waiting lists for elective surgery, or planned surgery, as Mr Park would like it called.
"(Elective) sounds like people had a choice - this is surgery people are living in pain waiting for," he said.
About 100,000 people, including 4000 children, are waiting for planned surgery in NSW, with one in six waiting longer than clinically recommended.
A panel of clinicians will audit and implement improvements to surgery across NSW over the next three months.
Recommendations would be made on efficiency programs, better collaboration with the private sector and suggestions about how to reduce the waiting list.
The task force was one of Labor's final election promises.
