People in need of surgeries such as cataract removal or knee replacements will still be left with huge waiting times under a steady NSW budget that has largely kept funding in line with projected growth. Byron Bay residents will be given a new hospital, and renovations will start on many more of the state’s older facilities, as part of a $1.16 billion hospital renovations program. But any increases in hospital funding have largely been swallowed by Commonwealth cuts, the Australian Medical Association NSW says. The association had called for funding to be increased by at least 7 per cent to account for increasing demands on hospitals as the population grows and ages, however funding has instead increased by 5.2 per cent. This will largely go to meeting annual rises in the number of people turning up in hospital emergency departments and being admitted to hospital. The AMA NSW president, Saxon Smith, said the actual growth in funding was significantly less when the $220 million in federal money that the state had been forced to replace is taken into account.