He is now 71-years-old and with his choice to live in the Manning Valley he quickly learned that as a public patient he must attend John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle for cardiac treatment.

He knows the drill. Angina and a heart attack has forced him to travel by ambulance from Manning Hospital to John Hunter Hospital.

He is quick to say that "I'm not a whinger, I'm not one of them who complains all the time," but is stepping forward to counter the claim of Hunter New England Local Health District chief executive, Michael DiRienzo that "the majority of Manning patients receive transfer and timely care within the agreed 48 hour timeframe."

Mr Taylor is a patient of cardiologist, Dr Sesh Narasimhan and last week bought The Manning River Times when he saw him on the front page of the newspaper.

"I've never had a doctor like him, he is brilliant. I just think he's marvellous. I've had a few cardiologists in my time when I lived in Sydney and this bloke beats them all," Mr Taylor said.

His respect for Dr Narasimhan is borne from his belief that he probably would not still be alive without his intervention to secure required treatment at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

Mr Taylor's partner, Patricia Henry quietly says "the last time he nearly died, and it was only because of Dr Sesh, who rang them and said, get that man down there, you've made a mistake and you have to fix it now."

"The 48-hour turnaround. That's a load of rubbish, I've never been treated in 48 hours. It's always been three or four days and in one case it was 10 days before I actually got taken down there," Mr Taylor said.

"The 48 hours that's a load of rubbish, that really is. I don't know how they have the audacity to even say it 48-hour turnaround no way, and I've been down there five times.

"The last time I went down with a heart attack I had a 100 per cent blockage. They had given me drugs that unblocked it 10 per cent, allowing me a bit more leeway as to whether I live or die type of thing.

"When I got down there on the Friday they then said that they couldn't do me until the Monday. They had given me a drug that had made my arms swell-up and it was still swelling.

"When they do the operation they need your blood like water, and so they said they couldn't take the risk, which is fair enough, but I am on the table at this stage before they made this decision.

"So I am all ready to go and then they tell me that. It's stupid. It's no nice thing, you are lying on the damn bed basically naked with people taking things off you, and there is a young girl there, about 16 who is learning the ropes, fair enough, it's not very nice, and then nothing happens - they wheel you back into the ward until Monday."

Mr Taylor's operation occurred on the Monday but two weeks later he was back in John Hunter Hospital.

"Two weeks later I saw Dr Sesh and I told him that I did not feel good," he said.

"Dr Sesh looked at my disk and said, 'This is not good, you've got another artery here that is 85 per cent blocked. How did they miss that?'

"So he rings them up and says, 'What are you lot doing down there? I've got a patient here who was down there two weeks ago, he's got an 85 per cent blocked artery and you've sent him home'. He really got on to them.

"So I went down two weeks later and two of the top surgeons in John Hunter did my surgery and they put two more stents in - two top surgeons in John Hunter fixed me up because Dr Sesh stirred them up and said, 'What's going on? This is not good. "These things do happen and I'm not a whinger, I'm not one of them that complains all the time, but these things happen and then they say, oh it's a 48 hour turnaround, is it any wonder you get cranky!"

Mr Taylor regards public patient access to the Mayo Private Hospital Cardiac Catheter Laboratory as an "emergency".

"It's not just a matter of well, let's do it. It is an emergency," Mr Taylor said.

"The politicians are all talking about how many thousands of dollars they will give here, there and everywhere - well all they really have to do here is to simply say yes! Yes you can start doing cardiac stuff in Taree, it's not a matter of a lot of money. It's that simple."