Hundreds waiting as strike begins

"DHBS support the union's right to take strike action, but the patience on this one is really tested." Mick Prior, DHB Shared Services spokesman

The junior doctor strike has forced 475 appointments and surgeries to be delayed at Palmerston North Hospital.

Junior doctors across the country, with the exception of Taranaki and West Coast, walked off the job as part of the strike, which will last for 73 hours, having started at 7am Tuesday and ending 8am on Friday.

In the Midcentral district, 120 staff took part in the strike, which forced 400 clinic appointments and 75 elective surgeries to be delayed.

Midcentral chief medical officer Dr Kenneth Clark said there had been a steady number of people through the emergency department during the day.

He said Midcentral’s contingency planning before the strike action meant all acute and emergency services had run as normal so far.

No appointments outside the strike period were affected by the strike, and no patients whose appointments were deferred had already been in hospital prior to the strike.

The strikes were prompted by resident doctors who say they are made to work unsafe hours 12 days in a row, and night shifts of seven days in a row.

The New Zealand Resident Doctor’s Association has been calling for a maximum of four consecutive nights and 10 days in a row.

Midori Fujino, a resident doctor in the Manawatu and the NZRDA regional delegate, said the second strike demonstrated they were serious about wanting the issue resolved.

Doctors would be using the time off to rest, much like they did during the last strike.

Fujino said it would also be a time to catch up with friends and family.

Both the union and DHBS had long discussions last week, prompting hopes that a strike may be averted.

NZRDA national secretary Dr Deborah Powell said they might have been close to a deal on Friday.

However it was frustrating the DHB bargaining team had no power to make a decision and had to go back to chief executives each time.

DHB Shared Services spokesman Mick Prior said the 20 DHBS across the country each operated independently.

On Thursday, a select group of four DHB chief executives will meet to consider the latest offer.

If they agree on the deal, they will take it to the remaining 16 DHB chief executives, Prior said.

The earliest this could happen is February 2. Talks between both parties had been positive last week, but didn’t go far enough, Prior said.

Striking negotiations.

‘‘DHBS support the union’s right to take strike action, but the patience on this one is really tested.’’

Prior said the stalemate related to doctors’ refusal to take a pay cut over working fewer days in a row. did not help