Taranaki prepares for nurses’ strike

Taranaki is preparing to run hospitals without nurses as the health industry faces possible strike action around the country next week.

Mediation between district health boards (DHBs) and the nurses’ union to avoid the first nationwide nurses’ strikes in nearly 30 years failed on Monday. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the DHBs have applied to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) for urgent facilitation.

Gillian Campbell, Taranaki DHB chief operations officer, said its contingency planning was in its advanced stages for the planned 24-hour strike, starting at 7am on July 5.

‘‘Teams from across the DHB are involved in planning to ensure emergency and essential services are available if the strike goes ahead,’’ she said.

‘‘To reduce demand on our services, non-urgent appointments and planned operations have been postponed in the days leading up to and on the day of the strike. This will impact approximately 150 patients and most of them have now been contacted.’’

The rejected pay increase offer, worth $520 million, was described by Health Minister David Clark last week as the best in a decade. Clark and Finance Minister Grant Robertson have both said the offer could be restructured but no additional funding was available.

The offer rejected by nurses included three 3 per cent pay increases, a $2000 lump sum, the creation of two new pay steps for registered nurses, doubling their on-call hourly allowance from $4 to $8, and funding for about 500 new nurses.

NZNO industrial services manager Cee Payne said last week more money would be required to reach a settlement agreeable to members but stressed remuneration was just one aspect. She said nurses also wanted to see improved staffing levels.

Patient safety was the TDHB’s number one priority, and they were liaising with external providers to provide additional support, Campbell said.