Minister Brad Hazzard was at the hospital to celebrate a major milestone in the site's $835 million redevelopment shortly before NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) members staged a brief protest about pay and working conditions.

Rachel Hughes, the secretary of the NSWNMA John Hunter Hospital branch, said the pressure they have been under is "immense".

They were tired, they were terrified, and they wanted their concerns to be taken seriously.

"We're consistently short-staffed on almost every shift," she said. "Nurses are doing excessive amounts of overtime because we are either asked by management or we feel guilty to leave our workmates and our patients without adequate care. We're fearful something bad is going to happen on our watch, and we don't want it to.

"That's why we are fighting for what we know is right."

Many senior nurses were retiring earlier than planned because they "can't do this anymore".

"You can pull up in the car park before work and sit there for 20 minutes debating whether you actually want to go in and do this," Ms Hughes said. "It's really hard to keep coming back, knowing you are going to be short-staffed and have huge numbers of patients and presentations."

But she said their pleas for a pay rise and safer staff-to-patient ratios were not being heard - even when the health minister was less than 100 metres away.

Addressing media at the back of the hospital following a sod-turning ceremony, Minister Hazzard said the 3 per cent pay rise the state had offered nurses was "fair", and the staff-to-patient ratios they were asking for would lead to the closure of wards.

He blamed the convergence of COVID-19 and influenza - plus aged care residents well enough to go home but their nursing homes had been closed - for putting additional pressure on the hospital system.

"It is unfortunate that the state, and all the states, can't always give more," Minister Hazzard said. "Health staff have always been on the front line - they really have borne the brunt of so much additional stress and pressure.

"Which is why we should get vaccinated."

Minister Hazzard said the increase in salary for nurses was the "highest in the nation", but the NSWNMA refuted that claim.

"Nurses in Queensland can earn up to $6500 per year more than nurses in NSW, and they also have nurse-to-patient ratios," Ms Hughes said. "Victoria has nurse-to-patient ratios, and they get paid better... The ACT has nurse-to-patient ratios and South Australia has just brought them in... Why are we the only state that doesn't have them?"

NSWNMA had initially asked for a 4.75 per cent pay rise to make up for cuts received in 2020 and 2021.

After a mass meeting on Tuesday, the state's NSWNMA members voted to ask for 7 per cent to keep up with inflation.

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