NSW nurses strike: Hunter nurses and midwives marched down Darby Street as part of 24 hour strike action over pay and staffing | Gallery | Video

This is the third time this year that nurses across NSW have walked off the job, calling for mandated nurse-to-patient ratios and a 7 per cent pay rise.

Shaye Candish, of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, addressed a sea of scrubs at Civic Park on Thursday morning.

"Number three. How many do you think it's going to take?," she said.

"Even today, Dom Perrottet is on the news saying that NSW Health is the best paid in the country, that nurses are the best paid and staffing is the best in the country.

"They want us to sit down, shut up and be grateful for the rubbish that we put up with every day.

"If we don't see change, we'll continue to have nurses leave our sector. We cannot deliver a service to our community under these conditions.

"It is time the government stand up and listen."

Ms Candish said what they were asking for was not "radical". Nurse-to-patient ratios already existed in other states.

"Why should NSW nurses and NSW patients be left behind?," she said.

Ms Candish said the current system was affecting the mental health of nurses and midwives in NSW.

"When the system creates environments where we feel like we fail every day, that is heartbreaking for us," she said.

"We cannot come to work and deliver good quality care when we leave every day feeling dissatisfied and feeling like we've let people down.

"This is called 'moral injury'. This is the stuff they talk about for people that work in the defence force when you turn up to work and have to make decisions that go against your values.

"This is not burn out, this is not that we are not resilient enough. When does the system change to deliver the care that you know is needed so you can do your job safely?"

Monique Murray, of the association's Maitland Hospital branch, said their ability to deliver world class healthcare had been "stolen" from them.

"Our EDs and wards are in crisis, and patient care is suffering," she said. "The brand new Maitland hospital is a $470 million build that has recently been named the worst ED in the state for patients leaving prior to receiving care. We have patients waiting 12 hours in the ED, and patients that have been waiting 50 hours in the ED for a ward bed.

"Safe nurse-to-patient ratios will allow the health system to have better recruitment and retainment, ensuring our nurses and midwives continue to want to work in this field."

A NSW Health spokesperson said today's industrial action by the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA) was in defiance of orders from the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

"Safe and effective staffing involves more than just numbers of staff, it is about making sure there is the right number of staff in the right place at the right time," they said.

"The current 'nursing hours per patient day' system used under the Nurses Award in NSW Health is a far more flexible ratio which enables hospitals to increase staffing, where needed, to ensure safe and effective care.

"The flexible ratio system used in NSW Health is a multifaceted approach and considers the numbers of patients, their complexity, acuity and care needs whilst allowing for the professional judgement of nurses and managers to adjust staffing levels to reflect the changing care needs of patients.

"This contrasts with the rigid ratio framework of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association which is based solely on the number of patients per shift."

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