It was one suggestion that a frustrated Mayor Phyllis Miller made at this month's council meeting where councillors were presented with a letter saying 'no' to their appeal for the facility.

NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research the Hon Brad Hazzard wrote to the council explaining there was not the demand to justify more theatre space.

Mr Hazzard wrote that the Forbes Hospital operating theatre had a 60 per cent average use rate over the past three financial years.

"This does not support an additional theatre space," he wrote.

"However the District will continue to monitor use and any upgrade requirements.

"(Western NSW Local Health District chief Scott McLachlan) has also advised that some theatre areas will undergo renovations over the next six months."

But a renovation won't cut it, say local doctors Dr Glenn Pereira and Dr Greg Whittaker, who took time to speak to the Advocate after they completed a surgery on Monday morning.

While unable to take us in to the theatre, they explained the current space simply was not big enough.

"There's a couple of issues," Dr Whittaker said.

"One is that we don't have enough powerpoints.

"They actually have to swap equipment around, if you want to lift the table up and down sometimes you have to unplug another piece of equipment.

"The other one is that over the years they've accumulated more and more equipment that we use in operating theatres.

"I for example tripped last week and smashed my knee because there was too little space between the anaesthetic machine and the head of the table and the patient and her husband."

Another anaesthetist had to be flown in to cover the on-call that Dr Whittaker then couldn't do, Dr Pereira pointed out.

New theatres, they explained, are built bigger to accommodate this.

The two doctors pointed out the theatre at Forbes Hospital is a busy one, supporting maternity services as well as visiting specialists.

They use it for surgery, including cesarean sections, and provide anaesthetic services for visiting surgeons.

"(The theatre) is managed impeccably," Dr Pereira said.

"It's a well utilised theatre, the staff are very good, but probably the time has come to have a new theatre to take us into the modern era."

Mayor Phyllis Miller said there must have been a misunderstanding when she read the Health Minister's response: the council was never after an additional theatre space, but a replacement for the current one.

"We are not going to settle for a renovation because that will put us out," she said.

"We need a new theatre connected to our new hospital, we have a position where it can go.

"I don't think we as a community should settle for anything less."

In a follow up letter to the Minister, the mayor wrote that Forbes provides maternity services for not only our township but Parkes, Condobolin, Grenfell, West Wyalong, Eugowra and many Trundle people.

"We cannot under any circumstances have our theatre out of action for one minute of any given day through an upgrade," she wrote to the Minister.

"We are a Grade 2 hospital that has maternity services.

"I once again ask you to reconsider your decision."

Forbes had saved the NSW Government $25m to $35 million when it stayed on site and re-used part of the old hospital rather than moving to a greenfield site, the Mayor argued.

"I would have no hesitation in going to my community with a Go Fund Me page for a new operating theatre if that is the only option," she added.

"If I was a city mayor there's no way I'd have to go begging for a functional theatre."

When The Advocate initially asked for a response on the campaign, although this was before we could speak to our local doctors, the Western Local Health District advised that Forbes' theatre was functional.

"There are currently no plans to undertake major capital works at Forbes," a statement from a Health District spokesperson said.

"The theatre is in regular use. In the July - September 2020 quarter 114 elective surgeries were undertaken at the Forbes Hospital."

Mayor Miller added Forbes remained supportive of Parkes' campaign to restore services at the Parkes hospital built in 2015.

"We are not playing a 'dutch auction' with Parkes Health Service and I have made that quite clear to the Minister," she said.

"We stand solidly together with the Parkes community to do all we can to reinstate their full service."