According to the most recent NSW Health figures, hospital waiting lists at Bowral Hospital have increased by 145 people since March 1995, jumping from 309 to 454 people.

Included in the current list of patients are 20 people who have been waiting for more than 12 months for elective surgery, the highest this figure has been since 1995.

Southern Highlands MP Peta Seaton said the waiting list blowout at Bowral Hospital continually worried her and felt the state government wasn't doing enough to help hospitals like Bowral ease the waiting list problem.

"Orthopaedic patients contact me because they are horrified that they could be looking at a wait of over two years," she said.

"(These people are) not statistics to be dealt with eventually, they're people whose quality of life is suffering, people who are disadvantaged because they have to wait, sometimes up to three years for operations."

The Liberal MP said she was concerned by continued reports Bowral Hospital's surgery time wasn't being maximised to reduce the waiting lists.

"It's a classic case of being all dressed up with no where to go...because the operating theatre is available, the staff are there, everyone's primed, but insufficient funding means the actual operation cannot go ahead," Ms Seaton said.