Wagga nurses prepared to make a stand in fight for 15 per cent pay rise

A solution to improving care for patients is a 15 per cent pay rise for nurses, according to new requests from the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA).

"We're not just fighting for increased pay just because we want more money," NSWNMA Wagga branch secretary Roylene Stanley said.

"We're fighting for this so we can attract more nurses."

Wagga union representatives say that nurses and midwives have had enough and are prepared to fight for their requests.

Their list of claims includes a 15 per cent pay rise across all levels of nursing from July 1 which they believe will attract more nurses into the NSW workforce to improve staffing ratios.

Their request also includes increasing the night shift penalty to 30 per cent, to be in line with other states.

"We want to provide them with the best care and safety as we can, and the way to do that is to have more nurses," Ms Stanley said.

Their request comes as the ministry of health began a major staffing reform to increase nursing ratios on May 16.

But NSWNMA Wagga branch president Karen Hart is concerned that the workforce does not have enough nurses to meet the reformed levels.

"We are concerned that ... we're not going to be able to achieve the safe staffing levels if we continue to just be short of nurses and midwives," Ms Hart said.

She believes that the request made by the union will attract nurses to stay within NSW instead of moving interstate, and will also attract more people into nursing and midwifery.

Wagga's union representatives have said that if the ministry does not budge on their requests, nurses will take industrial action.

"Nothing's off the table at the moment, it's a matter of waiting to see what the ministry come back now that the claim has been served," Ms Hart said.

"Our prime wish would be that the government accepts the handful of things we've asked for and that we don't even have to think about industrial action."

The Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) was approached for comment, but directed queries to the ministry of health.

The NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park said the government will continue negotiations with the NSWNMA which are "in their early phases", during a press conference on May 16.

"I expect the NSWNMA, as they always have done on behalf of their profession, to be very, very strong advocates."

Mr Park also discussed the rollout of the state's new nurse staffing reform which will begin with increasing ratios in Emergency Departments (ED) to one-to-three.

The reform includes the Safe Staffing Taskforce which includes NSWNMA members, to ensure the full time equivalent staff are increased to 2,480 over three years.

Sydney hospitals Liverpool and Royal North Shore are the first two hospitals to roll out the new levels.

""The Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce will review this initial rollout at Liverpool and Royal North Shore EDs and use these experiences to help inform the roll out at future sites," the minister said.

At a press conference on May 16, the NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish called it an incredible piece of staffing reform.

"This reform will bring us in line into the beginning of bringing us into line with other states around NSW," Ms Candish said.

The reforms are schedule to occur in phases until 2027.

The date for the reform's roll out in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District has not been announced.