Patients may be flown for treatment

Hospital patients face being flown around the country for medical procedures next week when radiographers walk off the job.

Radiographers at seven district health boards - Southland, Otago, Canterbury, Hutt Valley, Lakes (Rotorua), Tairawhiti (Gisborne) and Bay of Plenty - plan to take industrial action ranging from full strikes to overnight bans starting on Monday and stretching into early May.

Services such as x-rays, CT and MRI scans, and ultrasound will be unavailable.

The DHBs' national co-ordinator of contingency planning, Anne Aitcheson, said some patient appointments would be deferred but some surgery could go ahead.