An extra 940 nurses will be working on the frontline in New South Wales hospitals before June 2012 at a cost of $80 million, according to the State Government.

The nursing injection is part of the government’s plan to employ 2475 new nurses over the next four years, which was outlined in its $17.3 billion health care budget.

The boost to nursing numbers includes $4 million spent on employing an extra 275 clinical nurse and midwife educators and $4 million to extend 10-hour night shifts for nurses.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the additional nurses will coincide with an extra 550 hospital beds and a $4.7 billion capital works program, designed to renovate the state’s ageing hospitals to meet growing demand.

“This record health budget also confirms our commitment to significantly improving health care in NSW by making available more hospital beds, employing more nurses and delivering better patient outcomes,” she said.

But the NSW Nurses Association has called for the introduction of more than 3000 new nurses in four years.

Association general secretary Brett Holmes told media at least an extra 500 nurses above the government’s budget commitment were needed, to cater to the state’s increasingly ageing population and its expanding hospitals.