PN hospital prepares for nurses to strike
Friends and family of Palmerston North Hospital patients may be asked to help out if a proposed nurses strike goes ahead. But while more than 450 appointments, including surgeries, will need to be rescheduled, Midcentral District Health Board is confident anyone needing urgent medical attention will be able to get it. Nurses are scheduled to go on strike on Thursday over a pay offer dispute from district health boards. The nurses were going to strike on July 5, but it was called off at the last minute after two days of urgent talks. A different offer was given, which the nurses’ union is recommending its nurses accept, with voting on the offer set to close on Monday. But health boards are planning for the strike regardless. A Midcentral spokesman said they employed about 1200 nursing and midwifery staff. The majority of those staff are union members who could strike. Any staff on deck would have to focus on those already in hospital and serious emergency cases, meaning 458 outpatient appointments and elective surgeries would be postponed, the spokesman said. Original appointment times may not be reinstated if the strike was called off, as arranging elective surgeries and the like was a ‘‘complex process’’, the spokesman said. The hospital could not bring in agency staff, as it was unlikely anyone could provide enough cover for the strike. ‘‘Our plan is to focus all available clinical staff into assisting patients in need of urgent care,’’ the spokesman said. Any staff on deck would likely have to help in areas they usually
‘‘These family members will not be asked to do any tasks that require clinical expertise and are only being asked to offer support to their own family member or support person.’’
Palmerston North Health Board spokesperson
did not cover, although no-one would be doing things outside of their practice scope, the spokesman said. They may have to help with transferring patients to different beds, helping with food and fluids, and helping patients who did not have family support. Inpatients’ family and wha¯nau had also been asked to help with things like helping patients with food and drink, keeping bed spaces tidy and keeping their loved ones comfortable, the spokesman said. ‘‘These family members will not be asked to do any tasks that require clinical expertise and are only being asked to offer support to their own family member or support person.’’ Family members were also encouraged to accompany loved ones being taken to hospital in ambulances, the spokesman said. Women going into labour should still go to the hospital, with care unlikely to be different from any other day, or go to the emergency department if in need of urgent care. There was also an agreement between the union and the health board to ensure patients were given life preserving services, the spokesman said.