Hospital strike: Bay of Plenty District Health Board braces for strike action

The workers have asked for higher pay, equal treatment with other health professions, and action on safe staffing and retention. Photo / NZME

Anaesthetic technicians are just some of the 400 workers who will strike on Friday, disrupting planned care at Tauranga and Whakatāne hospitals.

More than 400 Bay of Plenty District Health Board workers, who are part of the Public Service Association, will down tools for 24 hours from 6am on Friday, March 4.

The workers have asked for higher pay, equal treatment with other health professions, and action on safe staffing and retention.

PSA organiser Will Matthews said: "The depth of feeling from our members, and the support for industrial action nationwide, was unprecedented".

District health board executive director allied health, scientific and technical and contingency planner Sarah Mitchell said: "The BOPDHB is involved in contingency planning to mitigate the impact of this industrial action and has finalised the life-preserving services".

Life-preserving services were defined as providing care for the preservation of life and the prevention of disability. There would be no planned care in the hospitals' theatres, with only emergency theatres operating throughout the strike.

Any non-medical outpatient appointments planned for this period would also be rescheduled and patients were being notified.

"Ensuring the safety of our patients and staff is paramount throughout this period of industrial action and all affected services have contingency plans in place for it," Mitchell said.

"The BOPDHB accepts the right of individuals and organisations to take industrial action, however, we do regret any inconvenience which may be caused to the people we serve," she added.

About 20 services would be affected, including sterile services technicians who clean and sterilise all surgical equipment prior to procedures, cardiology services, audiology, pharmacy and addiction services.

Toi Te Ora Public Health Service's on-call service for notification of reportable communicable diseases and for the management of border issues related to the Port of Tauranga would remain in place during the strike.

The Bay of Plenty strike would be part of nationwide industrial action from the PSA union, involving 10,000 workers across 70 professions.

The health workers voted to strike in February after rejecting an offer from the DHBs.

- Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air