Doctors at Dubbo Base Hospital have not been paid for weeks, nurses at Orange are using their own money to buy batteries for heart monitors and cake trays to dispense pills, and students in Mudgee have bought beds for the emergency department as more reports of the state's credit meltdown come to light.
But a spokesman for Nathan Rees said yesterday the Premier was "too busy with other things" to deal with the issue.
The Director-General of NSW Health, Debora Picone, refused to comment, saying the Greater Western Area Health Service "managed itself".
The area health service, which covers 56pc of the State, is in crisis after more reports that creditors are waiting up to six months to get paid, deliveries of food and medical supplies to hospitals have been cancelled, and vital maintenance work, such as fixing blocked pipes and faulty lifts, is not being carried out.
About 12 creditors came forward yesterday, including one owed more than $16,000 for delivering fruit to remote hospitals.
A nurse who was angry that several wards at Orange Base Hospital had been without paper towels, vital for infection control, for several weeks because unpaid suppliers had stopped deliveries.
Their claims came after the Sydney Morning Herald reported a Parkes security firm was threatening to withdraw its services if its $6000 bill was not settled within 24 hours.
Its owner, Lindsay Harvey, said he was told yesterday his money would be in his bank account by this morning.
Steve Miller, the owner of Country Fruit Distributors in Dubbo, owed $14,000 for three months, was also paid about $7000 yesterday after complaining to the Herald.
The chief executive of the Greater Western Area Health Service, Claire Blizard, said it was "clearly unacceptable that some creditors are facing these delays".
"We have made progress in relation to the payment of creditors and in the past couple of months we have made a 50pc reduction in creditors owed money.
"This is not a problem that can be fixed overnight," she said.
Students from Mudgee High School ran car washes, charity balls and raffles to raise $20,000 for emergency department beds last year.
"It's a bit of a shame really that in a country like ours, as rich as ours, that our Government's health system has to rely upon local community donations to keep the hospital running," the former school captain, Hannah Kempton, said.
Three emergency trolleys were bought by the hospital's auxiliary last week after it raised more than $15,000 in raffles, while a football team paid for carpet in the maternity ward.
"It would be nice if we didn't have to buy these things, but we do," the president of the auxiliary, Glenys Goodfellow, said.
The Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, said it is unacceptable.
"If people don't pay their speeding fines or taxes on time, then they get taken to court or there's some penalty," she said.
"Why should the … Government think it's the exception?"
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