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About 5600 Senior hospital doctors around New Zealand will stop work at 12.01am, in protest over pay disputes.
It will be the start of a 48-hour strike which is set to finish at 11.59pm on September 24.
The union representing the doctors, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), said in a statement that “ASMS offered to meet again before strike day to make more progress, but Health New Zealand (HNZ) did not take up the offer.”
ASMS executive director Sarah Dalton says the strike will see the “complete withdrawal of labour” from doctors.
The last ASMS strike was held on June 18 which saw Northland doctors walk off the job for 24-hours.
“This was part of a district-by-district approach to striking which has now been replaced with national action,” Dalton says.
“Every day patients are missing out on care due to high numbers of vacancies driven by the inability to attract and retain staff.
“Strike action has not been taken lightly but unless we recognise that SMOs (senior medical officers) need to be paid at a level that allows us to recruit and retain our staffing numbers, more and more patients will miss out as our health workforce erodes.”
Dalton says New Zealand is already losing 205 people every day to work overseas “due to low pay conditions across a variety of jobs and this number includes healthcare workers.”
Health New Zealand ‘disappointed’
Dr Richard Sullivan, Acting Chief Executive of Health New Zealand (HNZ) says it’s frustrated and disappointed for patients, that ongoing bargaining with the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) has failed to avert the strike.
It is estimated that over 1,800 elective procedures, over 3,600 first specialist appointments, around 7,000 follow-up appointments, and more than 800 out-patient procedures will have to be postponed due to the strike action.
He says it is estimated that the strike will cause disruption for more than 13,000 patients.
“Contingency plans are in place to ensure those who need care the most will still be able to receive it, but the planned strikes on 23 and 24 September will see our hospitals disrupted for the entire week,” Sullivan says.
“We are focused on maintaining safety for patients already in hospital and those needing emergency care during the strike. Hospitals and all emergency departments will remain open, with a small number of staff providing life-preserving services.
“The public is encouraged to only use EDs for genuine emergencies. Patients with non-urgent needs will face longer delays to be seen,” Sullivan says.
HNZ’s advice for all patients during the strike is:
- people requiring non-emergency care should contact their GP or call Healthline on 0800 611 116 in the first instance, because we need to keep EDs for emergencies only
- all emergency departments will remain open
- patients in hospital will receive safe care
- unless you are contacted directly, please attend any scheduled outpatient appointment or treatment.
