The chairman of Northland's largest primary health organisation is angry that GPs weren't officially notified about a laboratory workers' week-long strike. The strike began yesterday after wage negotiations between the Medical Laboratory Workers Union and 15 of the country's district health boards broke down. "We know about the strike through media reports... Northland District Health hasn't communicated with us in any way about what's going on," Manaia PHO chairman Ron Abraham said. The health board's lack of communication was "discourteous to say the least". Considering the possible impact on primary care patients and referrals, the health board had let that sector down by not keeping doctors and other services in the loop, he said. "Hopefully, day-to-day functioning from a medical point of view will not be affected, but anything which disrupts services at our only hospital puts pressure on doctors and other providers." A week was a long time to absorb and accommodate in-hospital disruptions, Dr Abraham said. While probably not directly affecting most general practitioners' services or referrals, problems associated with a week-long strike were likely to be accumulative, he said. In Northland 49 laboratory workers employed by the health board at Whangarei, Dargaville, Bay of Islands and Kaitaia hospitals are on strike. Services provided by private laboratories would not be disrupted. Independently owned Northland Pathology Laboratory, which most of Whangarei's GPs use, is not involved in the strike, manager Wil Hermans said. "We have been involved in the negotiations with the union about a collective agreement but, along with other private labs, we weren't cited for strike action." During the strike, the laboratory would provide some tests to Northland District Health Board under an essential service contract, he said. Mr Hermans predicted hospital and other district health board services would reach a bottleneck situation by the end of the strike, with stopping and restarting systems probably providing the biggest hitch. "I hope things will be sorted out soon. Anything that interrupts or threatens healthcare services is unfortunate," he said. "We are certainly sympathetic to their wage claim but we are also sympathetic to everyone else affected by this action." Cervical smear referrals are among services that will be postponed during the strike action, and up to 20 non-urgent operations have been postponed at Whangarei Hospital.
