Medical stakeholders have called for clarity over where an expected $50 million in cuts at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) will come from.

Key points: It is understood $50m will be cut from the Royal Hobart Hospital this financial year, but it's not known where the cuts will come from

It is understood $50m will be cut from the Royal Hobart Hospital this financial year, but it's not known where the cuts will come from The Treasurer says the health system could be more efficient

The Treasurer says the health system could be more efficient The Australian Medical Association says cuts would be highly problematic and is seeking urgent clarification

Multiple sources, including the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation's Andrew Brakey, have told the ABC that Tasmanian Health Service (THS) management warned RHH staff to brace themselves for a $50 million cut to the hospital's budget this financial year.

"Our members are really concerned," Mr Brakey said.

"Frontline nurses always seem to be protected in budget cuts, however what does happen is there is erosion of the support staff that are around them.

"What we see is that nurses are taken away from the bedside and are doing admin duties and needing to answer phones and clean beds and things like that, so the patients aren't actually getting the full care they are allocated."

Mr Brakey said the budget should be decreased as efficiencies are found, rather than budget pressure being put on management.

Last financial year, the Tasmanian Government was forced to inject an additional $105 million into the health budget to meet the costs of increased demand.

"Given that the $105 million was put in, I'd really like the Minister and the Treasurer to sit down and look at what health needs over the next 12 months," Mr Brakey said.

"Yes, they could look at what efficiencies could be found in the THS, but we also need to deliver safe patient care to the families of Tasmanians."

Dr John Burgess from the Australian Medical Association said he would seek urgent clarification from the Minister about where any cuts would come from.

"We would find that highly problematic, given the current clinical operating environment," he said.

Hospital staff have been warned to brace for tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts. ( ABC News: Scott Ross )

Health system could be more efficient

Dr Frank Nicklason from the Royal Hobart Hospital Staff Association said staff were concerned about the possibility of impending cuts.

"It is hard to imagine how we can do this without a substantial negative consequence for patients," he said.

Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein said the Government had put an extra $30 million into the health budget from finance general this year, but he believed the health system could be more efficient.

According to the budget papers handed down in May, this year's funding would only be $11 million more than the forecast total operational health spend for last financial year at a time when demand for health services is estimated to be increasing by between 3 and 4 per cent a year.

"I believe that health can become more efficient and it should always be Government's aim to become more efficient what we will continue to do is employ more doctors, more nurses," Mr Gutwein said.

In May, Mr Gutwein handed down the state budget for the 2019-20 financial year, which introduced an "efficiency dividend" across the public service.

The dividend of 75 cents in every $100 is intended to find savings of $450 million over the forward estimates.

Mr Gutwein said more information about the dividend would be made public at the end of the first quarter of the 2019-20 financial year, and in the midyear update.

"There will be lots of information made available in terms of both what the level of efficiency savings are, but importantly how we're going about achieving them," he said.