Hospital nurses have today settled their long-running pay row with their district health board employers.

The end of the row over renewal of the multi-employer collective agreement was announced a short time ago by the nurses' union in Wellington.

Watch the announcement of the vote:

It follows a day-long strike last month and nearly a year of negotiations between both sides for 30,000 nurses in public hospitals and 20 DHBs.

A vigorous social media campaign and breakaway groups criticised and challenged the union leadership repeatedly.

The offer that was ratified today was the fifth from DHBs, worth at least $520 million.

It includes pay rises of between 12.5 and 16 percent; an earlier new pay step for senior nurses, in May 2020; a commitment to proper implementation of a staffing scheme in hospitals known as Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM); and a commitment to pay equity by the end of next year.

The union, the Nurses Organisation, told reporters today that voter turnout in the online ballot was high with a significant majority in favour.

The union said it will now work urgently with DHBs to implement the hard-won deal.

The deal follows the announcement last week of a Government Accord with the union and DHBs designed to bolster the commitment to safe staffing by promising to deliver 500 extra nurses, at a cost of $38m regardless of the outcome of the ballot, and improved staffing under the CCDM.

The union's chief executive, Memo Musa, says today that securing this top-level extra Government assurance through the Safe Staffing Accord, over and above the requirements of the DHB NZNO MECA "shows the issues articulated by members have been heard".

"I thank our negotiating team that worked relentlessly, who were committed to getting an offer acceptable to members. We also thank our members, CTU unions affiliate members and the public who supported NZNO during the negotiations."