Statement attributable to Dr Dale Bramley, Health New Zealand Chief Executive

With the end of the senior doctors’ strike overnight I would like to recognise and thank our hospital staff and contingency planning teams for the work they did in the lead-up to and during the strike to ensure the continued deliver of patient care.

The impact of the strike varied by hospital. There were no major clinical events and our contingency plans worked well.

While the strike lasted 48 hours, an enormous amount of planning work went on beforehand and there is a lot more work to do now the strike has finished to return our services to normal.

We estimate that more than 13,000 patients would have had their care or treatment disrupted by the strike. New appointments for those patients will be scheduled as soon as possible.

We remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable settlement. We are engaging with the Employment Relations Authority following our application this week to fix the terms and conditions of the collective agreement.