Nurses declared a 'National Day of Action', as more than 20 rallies took place across the country on Thursday.
In Christchurch, angry health workers hit the streets, demanding Health New Zealand address what they say is a chronic shortage of nursing staff.
Enrolled nurse Debbie Handisides said they often had to work without enough staff.
"Stress and burnout and you don't go home feeling satisfied that you've done your day's work. You don't want to go to work, you don't know how many you're going to be short of."
She wants to see a minimum nurse to patient ratio, to help ensure safe staffing levels.
Janine Randle's been a nurse for 50 years, but said health workers were tired and burnt-out.
The Nurses Union claims more than a quarter of nursing shifts were below target staffing numbers, with some wards operate below safe staffing levels most of the time.
Randle said staff would often get taken from one ward to work on another to cover a shortfall.
"Hospitals all over the country have survived only on nursing staff working extra shifts to cover. And now there's a hold on working overtime because money is an issue."
The union is calling on the coalition government to invest more money into health to fund more nurses, midwives, and health care assistants.
"We want the government to hear us, we want them to listen. Most important we want them to listen this week before the budget comes out so they can put some more money into health so that we don't lose our nurses overseas," Handisides said.
The protesters hope the government listens to their plea, and adequately funds more nurses to address the serious recruitment and retention issues in the health system.
They say improving the conditions for workers will lead to better health care and outcomes for patients.
- By Geoff Sloan, made with the support of NZ On Air
