Nationwide healthcare strike under way, thousands of procedures affected

• Senior doctors and Auckland theatre nurses are striking today.
• 5500 senior doctors will strike for 24 hours, and 370 nurses will strike for 2 hours over pay and workforce issues.
• Three strikes have been cancelled due to weather warnings.

Senior doctors across the country and Auckland theatre nurses are striking today over pay rates and workforce shortages, but health bosses warn it will compound waitlist issues.

Strikes are planned at at least 14 hospitals and health centres across the country, but stormy weather has led to the cancellation of pickets in Wellington, Christchurch and Timaru.

Thousands of planned surgeries, procedures and appointments have been cancelled or rescheduled.

Health New Zealand chief clinical officer Richard Sutherland told Newstalk ZB “any day of no treatment has an impact on the waitlist”.

Sutherland called the strike significant, and the focus would be on keeping hospitals safe today.

“We’re well prepared, we’ve done a lot of planning... we’re working closely with the union.

“The bigger issue is those deferrals, those postponements of care,” Sutherland said.

Senior doctors strike outside Auckland Hospital today. Photo / Jason Dorday

About 370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre are striking.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) chief executive Paul Goulter said Health NZ is attempting not to pay nurses for involuntary overtime.

“They are fed up with their goodwill being taken advantage of. They have sacrificed enough and want recognition for the years of work they have done.“

Goulter said the perioperative nurses have been doing involuntary and unpaid overtime for years because “they put their patients first”.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) chief executive Paul Goulter. Photo / File

The senior doctors are being represented by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) in the union’s first 24-hour strike since it was established in 1989.

President of the Aotearoa NZ Committee at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Dr Hamish McCay, said the Government doesn’t have a clear solution.

“A strike action is absolutely the last resort for healthcare workers. This decision highlights just how urgent the need for change is.”

McCay said the strike underscores concern that cuts to the health budget will worsen the healthcare workforce crisis.

“The Government’s Healthcare Workforce Plan recognises that we need at least an additional 3450 doctors over the next nine years, yet the Government has not articulated a clear pathway to achieving that goal and has slashed the health budget.”

McCay said the demand for medical specialists has continued to grow at the same time that the healthcare system is facing a severe workforce shortage.

“This has meant that doctors and other health professionals have been navigating unsustainable workloads and inadequate working conditions.”

Health Minister Simeon Brown expressed disappointment with the union, saying the strike would affect patient care.

“This isn’t how we fix the health system,” Brown said. “It’s a decision that will hurt patients.”

Health NZ advised patients that, unless contacted, they should attend any scheduled appointments or treatments. People with non-urgent health conditions should contact their GP in the first instance.

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.

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