Public sector wage pressure has spilled over into the private sector as hundreds of nurses at the country’s two top private health providers walk off the job in support of immediate pay increases of up to 15 per cent.

Nurses and midwives at Healthscope private hospitals in western and south-west Sydney stopped work for two hours on Thursday morning, while staff at Ramsay Health Care, the country’s largest private provider, will strike for 24 hours at Westmead Hospital on Friday.