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

Next week’s strike action by health workers will impact thousands of people in our hospitals and community care settings – but Health New Zealand is focused on maintaining safety for patients already in hospital and those needing emergency care.

Hospitals, emergency departments and some community services will remain open during the strikes on Thursday 23 October, 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.

Our crisis and acute mental health services will be open but clinics will be closed and home visits will not go ahead.

Our advice for all patients during the strikes is:

  • if you need emergency care, come to the ED as normal
  • people requiring non-emergency care should contact their GP or call Healthline on 0800 611 116 in the first instance
  • patients in hospital will receive safe care
  • unless you are contacted directly, please attend any scheduled outpatient or community appointment or treatment
  • people with mental health needs should contact their GP or call or text 1737, the national mental health and addictions helpline

Health New Zealand remains deeply concerned the strikes will cause further delay to patients waiting for treatment and interrupt treatment underway for those already in hospital.

At a time when we are trying to improve access to care, these strikes reduce it.

It is estimated that the planned strike action will impact more than 6,000 patients, including the postponement of more than 900 elective admissions, 1,300 first specialist appointments and more than 2,300 follow-up appointments.

Health New Zealand will reschedule these as soon as possible but is mindful it will mean further delays for those who have already been waiting.

All people with appointments that are impacted by the strikes will be contacted directly by hospital, community or public health staff.

We recognise some of our workforces are under pressure and we are working on measures to provide support. We are actively recruiting to grow the health workforce.

Our latest recruitment data shows that in August, we were actively recruiting to fill over 4,000 full time-equivalent health workforce roles. In the same month, over 1,700 people accepted roles, which will have a direct impact on clinical services.

We remain committed to reaching a settlement with our staff and believe the offers we have made to our workforce have been fair.

We believe the outstanding issues need to be resolved through further bargaining, not strike action.