Nurses at the Dubbo Hospital say they have been pushed to the brink by low staffing levels, and are threatening to close beds in the emergency department in protest this afternoon.

The Dubbo emergency department could be without six of its beds if some staff go through with their threat, but the hospital’s general manager say they do not have the right. The nurses believe the hopital’s endemic understaffing is a threat to their safety.

Brett Holmes from the NSW Nurses Association says around nine full-time nursing positions remain vacant because of budget constraints.

“It's resulted from an extensive period of frustration that the health service who is facing a $19.5 million is taking and we are certainly calling upon the health service to act very quickly to fill these vacancies,” he said.

“This is obviously an extraordinary situation.”

Dubbo Hospital General manager Debbie Bickerton says that is not the case: “Funding is not an issue, we are not deliberately not staffing, we're not deliberately leaving vacancies, we are currently recruiting,” she said.

The Nurses Union claims workers are being pushed into excessive overtime, which comprises the safety of everyone at the hospital. Reports say the bed closure will happen later on today.

“I would hope that we can come to some other agreement,” Ms Bickerton said.