Lakes DHB preparing for midwife strike action

Rotorua Hospital. Photo / File

Midwives in the Lakes region will strike next Tuesday.

Last week the midwives' union Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service issued strike notice to Lakes District Health Board that its members would strike for eight hours on Tuesday August 10 in support of their wage claims.

Lakes DHB employs 44 midwives with many of them members of the union.

The strike action will start at 11am and run through until 7pm.

All obstetric elective cases for that day have been deferred and rescheduled. Anyone who will be affected by alterations to planned hospital care has been contacted.

Lakes DHB chief executive Nick Saville-Wood said the DHB would be able to maintain only minimal services during the strike.

He said patient safety was the number one consideration in planning for the upcoming industrial action.

Meanwhile, nurses have formally declared they will walk off the job again in just over two weeks.

They rejected the latest pay offer by the district health boards last week and have now issued the DHBs with a notice they intend to strike for eight hours on Thursday August 19.