Nurses have already received the first $1500 bonus along with a three per cent pay rise.

Similar increases will be paid in each of the next two years with a second $1500 bonus to be rolled out in October.

Other benefits delivered under the new agreement include an increase in the continuing professional development allowance to $400 a year.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the pay rises came after 360 nurse and midwife graduates joined the workforce in January with another 234 to be added in February.

“We know how hard our nurses and midwives work and we are pleased to be recognising that with a boost to their pay packets now in effect,” he said.

“We thank them for their dedication and commitment which has been especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. They deserve this pay rise.”

SA chief executive of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Elizabeth Dabar said the wage increases and one-off payments for nurses and midwives were an important recognition of their valuable and tireless work.

“Nurses and midwives deserve to feel valued and should be rewarded in a way that helps to attract and retain staff in an over-stretched sector that desperately needs them,” she said.

“What was put on the table is a fair and reasonable offer. We did accept it on that basis.”

Dabars said a working committee had also been established to deliver on the government’s promise to introduce nurse-to-patient ratios in public hospitals.

She said that would help nurses and midwives feel more confident in their ability to deliver quality care and would help attract more workers from interstate.

But she said more discussions were needed on allowances to retain rural and remote nurses and on the issue of providing free university training.

Malinauskas said the government was willing to consider all proposals on their merits in the context of tight budget conditions.

-AAP