The nurses’ union is urging the NSW government to deliver a 15 per cent pay rise to more than 65,000 nurses in just one year by unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars in untapped Commonwealth funding.

The demand for an immediate 15 per cent pay rise is sharply higher than the 3 per cent a year increase that has been budgeted for by the NSW government, and comes as Victorian nurses will consider a 28.4 per cent wage rise over four years on Wednesday after members went against the union’s earlier pay deal in a shock rejection last month.