What you should do

Nurses plan to strike for 24 hours from 7am today.

Anyone with an urgent medical need should not hesitate to dial 111 or go to an emergency department. For day-to-day medical queries you can contact your GP or phone Healthline on 0800 611 116.

If your appointment or surgery has been postponed you should have been contacted by your district health board already.

If you have something scheduled and have not heard otherwise, you should attend as usual. If you are unsure, contact your health board. Patients deemed not to require “lifesaving” care, who need help with tasks such as turning on bedrests, inserting intravenous pumps, and assistance going to the bathroom and bathing, will wait longer for help. Family, volunteers and doctors have been asked to help out in some cases.

Some services like Family Planning are not affected by the strike, but others could be if the nurses are paid by the DHB so check if your appointment is still going ahead.