The issues involving meager hospital staff compensation and benefits and the lack of medical supplies and equipment are not far different between those who signed for the National Health and Hospitals Network agreement and those who refused.

In South Australia, hospital staff claim they are undermanned and hospitals lack beds. President David Pope of The Salaried Medical Officers Association said, “There's lots of stories of patients extremely critically ill stuck in the emergency department because there are no beds available in the intensive care unit.”

The workers' union at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide's northern suburbs also said patients are treated in corridors and are left there for more than a day.

Health Minister John Hill explained, though, that the high demand is due to a seasonal factors. Hill said officials from Health SA will meet the union today.

Funding is also an issue in Western Australia. Support workers in public hospitals had just ended their industrial action only after the state government offered a three percent annual pay increase over three years. The amount is a quarter of a percent higher than the previous pay offer.

The Liquor, Hospitality, and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) members had been refusing to remove bed linen, empty rubbish bins, sterilize equipment for private hospitals, and even collect meal trays. The union campaign focused on securing better pay and working conditions, aside from a guarantee of not putting up the hospitals for privatization.

Carolyn Smith of the LHMU said, “These are some of the lowest paid workers in the government health system so we still think the offer is a miserly offer but it's still one we are prepared to take back to our members and discuss.”

Western Australia is not part of the National Health and Hospital Network agreement. South Australia signed the agreement along with New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory in April 2010.