Thousands of nurses and midwives across NSW will return to the picket line next week, bringing the state’s health system to a 24-hour standstill for a second time in their bitter pay dispute with the state government.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) this week rejected the Industrial Relations Commission’s recommendation to accept an immediate 3 per cent rise back paid to July 1 and commit to another four-week round of intense negotiations with NSW Health.

Health Minister Ryan Park said on Friday the government would agree to the backpay deal on the condition the union accept the commission’s recommendation and call off the strike.

“This is an opportunity for nurses to receive increased pay and patients to continue to receive care while the broader dispute is in the process of being resolved by the parties,” Park said.

NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish said the union would take the commission’s recommendation to a statewide delegates’ meeting on Tuesday afternoon, but the strike would go ahead regardless.

“Members have already rejected this offer, and 3 per cent doesn’t go nearly anywhere near far enough,” she said. “Our members are furious. They don’t take industrial action lightly.”

The Minns government has offered all public sector workers a 10.5 per cent rise over three years, which nurses and midwives have rejected. They are seeking a 15 per cent rise in one year.

Candish said the only concessions the government had made in four months of negotiations were agreements to install notice boards in tearooms and ban nurses working night shifts before going on annual leave.

Tuesday’s strike, which will involve thousands of nurses rallying on Macquarie Street in Sydney’s CBD, comes after a 12-hour stoppage a fortnight ago that led to the cancellation of more than 500 elective surgeries and long waits in emergency departments for all but life-threatening cases. Candish said the union expected this would be the case again.