Tamworth and Gunnedah nurses and midwives strike as NSW Nurses and Midwives Association demand better patient ratios, wages at hospitals

It was too important not to.

"The system is broken and it has been for years," Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson himself works as a registered nurse in the emergency department at Tamworth hospital and has done for 15 years.

"We should not have a second rate health system in the bush, but we do ... everyone deserves better," he said.

"All the nurses are here for the patients and it hurts everyday - if you're walking away from your shift knowing you couldn't do everything you wanted to do, it breaks your heart."

Mr Johnson's wife suffers from a chronic autoimmune disease, and even for a couple who know the system inside out, Mr Johnson said it was difficult to get into see specialists.

"We work in the system and it's still hard, so for people that don't, it is almost impossible," he said.

They were planning to strike together today, before a sudden change in her condition on Wednesday.

"Tamworth is a brilliant place to work, I have worked my entire career in Tamworth and I love it, I love the town, but the government just does not care," he said.

"They have to pay nurses more, they have to encourage nurses to work, they have to encourage people to go into nursing."

Mr Johnson joined the group of local nurses and midwives rallying on Thursday morning after they walked off the job for the second time in as many months - this time for 24 hours.

Mr Johnson said there had been deep issues since before COVID, and the pandemic was really just icing on the cake.

Jill Telfer, a Tamworth nurse and the secretary for the local branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, told the Leader the system was "crazy".

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She said the maternity ward was severely understaffed, nurses were burnt-out working overtime, through their breaks and taking on extra shifts.

She said they sometimes went home crying and more and more were considering retiring early or changing careers.

The union is calling for wages to be upped by 4.75 per cent, emergency department ratios of one nurse to three patients, one to four on the wards and an overhaul of the maternity unit patient system.

Ms Telfer said nurses were committed to rallying until there is change.

"It's actually a very dangerous situation," she said.

"Our working conditions are disgusting."

She said nurses, midwives and other staff - including on a district and management level - work as hard as they can but the state government needed to come to the table.

"We will not be silenced," she said.

A representative from the Gunnedah association branch, Heather Franke, took over the megaphone at the strike to tell the crowd of the "dire" doctor situation in the regional town.

A locum doctor staffs the emergency department only in the daylight hours between 7am and 7pm.

Overnight, patients have to rely on an on-call doctor for only the highest level emergencies, or phone Tamworth doctors for advice, Ms Franke said.

"It puts a lot of pressure on us to be able to think and act on our feet and be able to provide for those patients," she said.

"The government knows we are there because we are compassionate and we care and they are using that against us.

"We want to provide safe care for our patients and for our communities that we are so involved with."

She said a ratio of one nurse to three patients was desperately needed.

In a spontaneous twist, the teachers' federation also joined the rally and members of the firefighting service and paramedics showed their support.

NSW Health said in a statement that the situation was being closely monitored by health authorities as association members took action across the state.

"The NSW government and NSW Health have engaged in talks with the union and remain committed to reaching a resolution in the best interests of our patients and all our healthcare workers," the statement said.

It said there are more nurses and midwives in the state's public hospitals than any other time and the government is investing in 5000 more nurses and midwives between 2019 and 2022.

NSW Health and the regional health minister declined to answer the Leader's questions about ratios and doctor shortages.

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