Unions representing workers at the troubled Sydney Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH) are calling on the Berejiklian Government to tear up its contract with the operator and make the facility public.

Key points: A worker at the hospital claimed the private operator were pressuring elderly patients to use their health funds when it was not required

A worker at the hospital claimed the private operator were pressuring elderly patients to use their health funds when it was not required Staff fear they will be sacked if they speak publicly at the parliamentary inquiry

Staff fear they will be sacked if they speak publicly at the parliamentary inquiry Healthscope, which operates the facility, said it "welcomes the opportunity" to participate in the inquiry

Since opening last October, the $600 million facility has been plagued by reports of staff shortages and administrative errors.

In June, a NSW Upper House inquiry was launched to investigate its operations and management and has since received 226 submissions.

A submission by Health Services Union (HSU) said Healthscope, the private company which operates the hospital, was endangering patients due to the "imperatives of a for-profiting institution".

Statements from allied health practitioners — medical professionals such as dieticians, occupational therapists or physiotherapists — said patients were pressured into using their private health cover rather than being admitted as public patients.

"Elderly patients have almost been forced to use their health fund without knowing they will miss out on services for safe discharge home," one practitioner said.

Another said Healthscope staff were transferring patients to attend their rehab site and billing their insurance when it was not required.

One of the "most pressing needs" to fix the hospital was the "termination of the contract and transfer of the facility to public operation", the HSU submission said.

When it was first opened, the hospital operator said it had "teething problems". ( ABC News: Nicole Chettle )

The call was backed by the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), who also urged the government to "resume public ownership of the NBH".

"Get rid of Healthscope and get NSW Health to buy this facility back," one nurse said in a submission.

A Healthscope spokesperson told the ABC that NBH was making "ongoing improvements" and "welcomes the opportunity to participate in the parliamentary inquiry".

"More than 80 per cent of patients rated the overall quality of treatment and care as 'very good' at mid-July 2019," they said.

"Eleven per cent higher than in the first month of opening."

'A very slow train wreck'

While things had improved there was "still evidence of widespread under-resourcing at the hospital" and the hospital's failures started long before it opened, the HSU said.

An HSU officer who was part of development negotiations for the hospital said there was a "repeated failure" of Healthscope to address concerns raised to them by staff and unions since 2015.

"It felt like watching a very slow train wreck, knowing it would inevitably crash," they said.

Former director of nursing Moran Wasson was one of the senior personnel who left NBH. ( Supplied: Northern Beaches Hospital )

More than half of workers surveyed by the HSU and 70 per cent of nurses surveyed by the NSWNMA reported stress or burnout as a result of excessive workloads.

An occupational therapist reported that every month, about 250 patients were not seen due to ongoing staff shortages.

"Basically, we are way overworked, overloaded with patients with not enough staff," they said.

The ABC was told by senior clinicians they would be sacked if they shared their concerns with the media and others feared retribution if they spoke at the inquiry.

"Staff are concerned that outside this parliamentary inquiry they will be held liable for breaching code of conduct by discussing their concerns," a practitioner said.

Part of the inquiry's scope is to examine the merits of the hospital remaining privately operated. Its first public hearing will be on August 26.