Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel said nurses and midwives in the public health sector were fed up with the lack of recognition they had received through the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They are exhausted and burnt out," Mr Daniel said.

The federation wrote to ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith more than a month ago to suggest recognition payments, after the NSW and Victorian state governments announced similar bonuses.

"There is no end in sight to the pandemic, our public hospitals are stretched beyond safe levels, and the added burden of the flu season is resulting in health workers breaking under the strain. The government knows this and the best it can do is to say 'thanks'," Mr Daniel said.

In June, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a one-off $3000 payment for all employees in the NSW Health Service, to recognise their work on the frontline responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Victorian state government announced in the same month all public health services and Ambulance Victoria staff would be eligible for a payment of $3000, split over two pay periods.

"These initiatives come as vacancies in healthcare roles have reached record levels," the Victorian Health Department said.

Mr Daniel said it was disappointing the ACT government had pointed to its decision not to freeze wages during the pandemic and the fact nurses and midwives in the territory were the country's third-highest paid to justify not making recognition payments.

"Rather than taking the opportunity now to provide real and meaningful recognition of the hard work of Canberra's nurses and midwives throughout the pandemic, in similar terms to NSW and Victoria, the ACT government is satisfied that nurses and midwives should just carry on - business as usual. It says a lot about the culture in health care and the government's values," he said in a statement.

Ms Stephen-Smith's reply to Mr Daniel, seen by The Canberra Times, said the government was instead focusing on a wage increase as part of enterprise bargaining negotiations, which will take place this year.

"The government is not able to agree to the two $3,000 payments to nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in the ACT outside the enterprise agreement process," Ms Stephen-Smith wrote.

"As indicated above, the preferred way forward for providing a pay rise to all staff across the public sector would be to do this through an enterprise agreement wage offer. This would mean the ACT's nurses and midwives, who are currently the second highest paid in the country at entry level and third highest at senior levels, would continue to be among the highest paid in Australia."

Ms Stephen-Smith also told Mr Daniel she would appreciate meeting with him to discuss issues facing nurses and midwives in the ACT.

The government is understood to favour long-term wage increases rather than one-off payments to recognise staff.

Twenty-five nurses left Canberra Hospital's intensive care unit over the Omicron peak, raising concerns about a lack of senior staff, The Canberra Times reported in May.

While the number of nurses across the territory's public health system has increased by almost 280 staff over the past year, the union remained concerned about the skills mix as more junior staff replaced senior outgoing health workers.

"We are committed to taking the right steps to support our team members as we strive to provide the best working environment we can," Canberra Health Services executive director division of surgery Lisa Gilmore said at the time.

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