The Newcastle Herald can reveal the NSW Ministry of Health has offered what amounts to a 1.04 per cent pay increase for nurses across the state should the federal government's 0.5 per cent superannuation guarantee increase proceed on July 1. The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) said it would mean nurses would be forced to pay for their additional super out of the scheduled 1.5 per cent pay rise on offer.

Nurses from Belmont, Maitland, the Calvary Mater and John Hunter Children's Hospitals will rally at Newcastle's Foreshore Park on Saturday from 10am to noon.

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A nurse from Belmont Hospital's NSWNMA branch said they had staff going home in tears some days due to the lack of appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios.

"We get complaints from patients about how long they wait in the waiting room, and how long they wait when they press a buzzer, and it's not like we're not trying to meet these expectations, we just physically can't," she said. "This rally is about reasonable workloads, it's about ratios, and it's about our pay entitlements. It's about safety for patients, and being able to access a nurse when you need one - whether that's a resuscitation, or even buzzing for some help to go to the bathroom.

"We want the general public to come to this rally. We are doing this for them. This is to give them a better service, and make us more available so they don't wait so long when they need us. We need their support."

Related: Nurses peacefully protest wage freeze at Hunter Hospitals

The association's general secretary Brett Holmes said members' initial reactions to the new pay offer were "scathing". They were still "bitterly disappointed" by last year's 0.3 per cent wage freeze given their role in the pandemic response.

"To now put a pitiful 1.04 per cent increase on the table and completely ignore any improvements to patient safety or provide better protection for nurses and midwives while at work is demoralising," he said.

"Seeking safe staffing, safer personal protective equipment and a fair pay rise is hardly excessive.

"The NSW public health system is bursting at the seams, with increasing pressures being loaded onto health workers each year."

The union member from Belmont Hospital said they had one nurse to five patients in their wards.

"It doesn't matter how sick the patients are, how old, how confused, or how dependent - the nurse has to look after five people," she said.

"At John Hunter, they have one nurse for four patients. In the EDs, we don't have ratios at all, so a million people can come through the door, but there is no change in staffing.

"We are asking for ratios of one nurse for three beds in the emergency department.

"Because whatever comes through the doors, we just have to deal with, and that's when people are most vulnerable, until they're diagnosed and stable."

Related: From 'heroes' to zeroes, Hunter nurses protest wage freeze

Mr Holmes added that the union was "canvassing" all of their options in light of the "insulting" pay proposal.

"Our economic recovery is the result of frontline health workers shouldering the burden of this pandemic, and in return they are expected to accept appallingly low wages growth," he said.

"It's a cop out by the government and yet another slap in the face."

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