More than 30,000 Te Whatu Ora-employed nurses will receive a pay rise and a one-off lump sum payment to address historic pay equity issues, Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall announced today. "This Government values nurses, and ending gender-based pay discrimination is a crucial part of our work in this area," Ayesha Verrall said. "Higher pay will also improve the retention of nurses and address workforce shortages - and we're already seeing strong results. "Under this Government, last year more than 8000 nurses registered for the first time, a 60 per cent increase from the previous year, and in the last quarter the number of nurses registered to practice in New Zealand grew by about 2000. "We're also committed to improving pay rates for our nurses to help address decades of under-payment, and to remove the undervaluation of work performed by women. "I'm delighted that with today's agreement, we're able to put more money into the pockets