Hundreds of nurses marched from Newcastle Museum to Foreshore Park on Thursday morning to raise awareness of what they say is unsafe staff-to-patient ratios for a tired workforce that is overworked and underpaid.

The Newcastle Herald spoke to nurses who said they worried for the safety of patients - as well as their peers and work colleagues - because they were constantly asked to do more, with less.

They were tired of the "back-slapping", and said it was time for the NSW government to act.

It is the second time in 10 years nurses have walked off the job for 24 hours to pressure the state government to accept their demands for better pay and mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.

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Thursday's industrial action comes more than a month after the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association first voted in favour of statewide action that subsequently saw demonstrations at 150 public hospitals.

Nurses are demanding a nurse-to-patient ratio of one-to-four on hospital wards and a midwife-to-patient ratio of one-to-three, as well as a 4.75 per cent pay rise versus the 2.5 per cent a year allowed by the state government.

Nurses are demanding a nurse-to-patient ratio of one-to-four on hospital wards and a midwife-to-patient ratio of one-to-three, as well as a 4.75 per cent pay rise versus the 2.5 per cent a year allowed by the state government.

More to come

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