Nurses at the Calvary Mater Newcastle say their hospital must be included in the NSW government's "safe staffing" program to prevent a "two-tiered system".
John Hunter Hospital was last week named in the safe staffing program, but the Calvary Mater was not.
Camilla Smith, the Mater branch secretary for the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, said "we're very concerned".
"Why would an RN [registered nurse] want to work at the Mater, when you can get better working conditions at John Hunter?" Ms Smith said.
She said there was "a loss of hope and a feeling of what about us".
Mater branch vice president, Dee Spoljaric, started an e-petition urging the government to name the hospital on the safe staffing schedule.
The petition has 535 signatures, meaning NSW Health Minister Ryan Park must respond to it in Parliament.
The nurses are hoping for 20,000 signatures, which would force a debate in Parliament.
Mrs Spoljaric said the nurses plan to attend shopping centres to help hit the target.
"It's about equality and fairness for our community, nurses and patients. We deserve the same as John Hunter and the Sydney hospitals," the radiation oncology nurse said.
"The Mater is the major cancer hospital for the district. The district we serve is as big as England."
A Calvary Mater Newcastle statement said it was "a public hospital committed to providing safe, critical health services to the local community".
"Calvary Mater Newcastle is supportive of negotiations being concluded as soon as possible in the best interests of all parties."
The safe staffing program involves "minimum staffing levels on every shift" and 2480 more full-time equivalent nursing positions statewide over four years.
A one-to-one nurse/patient ratio will be set for ED [emergency department] resuscitation beds, and one to three for ED treatment spaces and short-stay beds.
Sixteen hospitals across the state have now been named as part of the program.
The government says phase one involves "level five and six EDs, which treat the most critically ill patients".
It would then progress "across other hospitals and departments".
Calvary Mater Newcastle has a level five ED and provides services that include toxicology, cancer treatment and mental health.
Mr Park, the minister, said the Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce was "prioritising level 5 and 6 emergency departments in our public hospitals".
He added that the taskforce would "continue to discuss, monitor and plan roll-out schedules".
"These discussions will include how recognised affiliated health organisations such as Calvary Mater Newcastle are treated," he said.
Ms Smith said the Mater was "managed by a not-for-profit, but we're publicly-funded through the local health district and we see public patients".
"We have one of the highest code blacks in the state because of our toxicology and mental health patients. The conditions are already challenging."
Code black is any incident in which staff feel a threat of physical harm or violence to themselves, patients or visitors.
"Our new grad program used to have a waiting list. Now it's struggling to fill the positions because it's become so stressful working here," Ms Smith said.
"You have hospital patients waiting on ambulance stretchers for six hours and they're basically terminally ill or mental health patients.
"You can imagine the pressure that's putting nurses under."
