A government-run locum agency is coming “sooner rather than later”, says the NSW Minister for Health as he grapples with a $240 million annual bill for locum staff.

Minister Ryan Park issued the pledge following a 1038-page report on the state’s health system, which suggested that a state-run agency would curb costs and help to eliminate “untenable” bidding wars between public health services to secure locums’ services.

“I can’t give you a definitive timeline, but I can assure you that this is a priority of mine,” he told reporters on Friday.

“It doesn’t mean that locums don’t play an important role. I want to be clear about that. They do, particularly in hard-to-staff areas.