Legs at tip identified: NSW Health

NSW Health knows the identities of two people whose surgically amputated legs ended up in a garbage tip in the Hunter region, but won't be revealing them to the patients' families.

A man working at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre in Wallsend found the legs sticking out of a pile of garbage in February.

The limbs have been traced back to two patients who both had surgical amputations at John Hunter Hospital and are now deceased, a NSW Health Pathology spokesperson said in a statement.

It will not release the names of the patients for privacy reasons and said the patients' families will not be notified, because senior clinicians and patient support staff advised against open disclosure due to the "unique circumstances" of the situation.

The Health Pathology spokesman told AAP there have not been any calls from concerned families.

The Environment Protection Authority is still investigating how the clinical waste came to be left at the depot.