NZNO Strike Notice Withdrawn

New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has withdrawn strike notice for Thursday 5 July. NZNO and representatives for the country’s 20 DHBs reached an agreement this afternoon on a revised offer, which the nurses’ union is expected to take to its members on Monday.

Southern DHB will begin immediately to reschedule outpatients appointments and elective surgeries – but patients will not have their original appointments reinstated.

Southern DHB had this week begun contacting patients with letters and by phone postponing outpatient appointments and elective surgeries scheduled on and, in some cases prior to, 5 July. Patients who receive letters today or in the coming days informing them their appointment is being postponed due to the nurses strike will be contacted to reschedule a new date and time. Some patients have already been rescheduled with a new date and time.

“It is unfortunate that the appointments can not necessarily proceed as originally scheduled, but rather our staff will have to reschedule all appointments that have been postponed,” says Chris Fleming, Chief Executive, Southern DHB. “We regret this is the case and apologise for the inconvenience but we will do all we can to make contact with patients and reschedule all appointments, treatments and surgeries as quickly and conveniently as possible.”

The terms of the agreement between the two sides, which will not be released until next week, will be finalised over the weekend. In the meantime, life preserving service and contingency planning continue in preparation for the strike action on Thursday 12 July, for which the strike notice remains in force.

Mr Fleming thanked staff for their work preparing for the proposed strike: “Our contingency planning team as well as other staff members were committed to continuing to provide the best healthcare possible and we are grateful to all staff for their extra efforts in advance of the proposed strike.”