New hospitals have been mooted for western Sydney and the Baird government wants to replicate controversial private-sector involvement in the Northern Beaches hospital, as it seeks to ease the burden of health services on state coffers.
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NSW Labor has accused the government of "Americanising" the state's health system and preparing to cut health jobs.
If the government is re-elected in March and sells the state's electricity assets for $20 billion as planned, $600 million will be reserved for hospitals in western Sydney. The government will investigate specific options at Rouse Hill and Campbelltown, plus new paediatric services in south-west Sydney.
The government will consider partnering with the private and not-for-profit sectors to deliver health care "more efficiently and effectively".
It cited the delivery of the 488-bed Northern Beaches hospital at Frenchs Forest, which is being designed, built and operated by private provider Healthscope.
The move led to the closure of Manly Hospital and downsizing of Mona Vale Hospital. It prompted criticism that the state was abandoning its duty to provide health services and handing responsibility to "profit-driven corporations".
About $300 million would be allocated to "multipurpose" health services in rural and regional communities. These would provide emergency, palliative and respite care, and inpatient beds.
The government would also set aside $100 million for 19 new "one-stop shops" in regional and metropolitan NSW. They would bring under one roof various health services, such as allied health, early childhood and mental health. The government said the move would reduce operating costs.
Labor's health spokesman Walt Secord said the move towards greater efficiency, reduced costs and private sector involvement were "code for privatisation and slashing jobs".
"The Baird government has an ideological obsession [with] the private sector providing of health and hospital services and the Americanisation of the health system," he said.
"The health system should be for patients and not shareholders."
Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the $1 billion would "supercharge our hospital building program" and ensure communities across NSW benefit from better health facilities.
"By building state-of-the-art hospitals, we enable our clinicians and staff to deliver the first-class care they are known for," she said.
