DHBs brace for 24hr strike

Some elective surgeries delayed during pay dispute NZ has its own signature Covid Omicron lineage

Many elective surgeries and clinics scheduled across the country for today are being deferred in anticipation of 10,000 allied health workers walking off the job for 24 hours.

District Health Boards and the Public Service Association have agreed to retain life preserving services for the duration of the industrial action.

Efforts to settle pay claims for workers such as lab technicians, physiotherapists, social workers, pharmacists and psychologists have failed.

DHBs contacted by RNZ said some elective surgery and outpatient clinics will be cancelled today but patients should attend scheduled appointments unless they have been contacted.

Emergency departments will remain open.

A Canterbury DHB spokesperson said many of its services will be impacted by the strike and wait times will be longer.

Around 100 outpatient and 220 community appointments that are run by Allied Health staff have been cancelled for today.

“The 24-hour strike will generally affect patient flow, in particular some discharges back to the community where physio, social work, occupational therapy and dietitians are often involved,” a DHB spokesperson said.

“Where it is appropriate and safe to do so, we will discharge patients home ahead of the strike to reduce the pressure on those staff who are working.”

Only urgent laboratory tests will take place today for life preserving criteria for critical patients.

Burwood Hospital elective operating theatres will be closed and five operating theatres will be open at Christchurch Hospital for life preserving surgery.

“We would normally have around 15 surgeries at Burwood and around 90 surgeries at Christchurch Hospital on a Monday, however, it is hard to quantify the exact number of surgical admissions that have been deferred

due to the strike action as some surgeries have not been scheduled as they normally would be due to the pandemic response,” the spokesperson said.

“We respect the right of staff to take

showed BA.2 continued to circulate “almost exclusively”.

“And it’s given rise to BA.2.10 — a local lineage that’s dominated by New Zealand cases in the international data.”

But that wasn’t unexpected, he said, and pointed to the fact the virus had mutated enough while spreading here to branch into genetically different virus “clades”.

“The fact that New Zealand are now seeing these things means we have what we call persistent transmission chains that allow the virus to accumulate these mutations,” he said.

“We can now also see a BA.2.10.1 — which is the next edition down this line.”

He stressed the genetic changes hadn’t made the virus any more

industrial action and acknowledge the important role that health workers play in delivering high quality care.”

Auckland DHB said patient safety remains its priority and it will continue

severe or transmissible.

“It’s really when it starts behaving differently that we need to pay closer attention.”

For now, he said cases of BA.2 unlinked to our clades were rarely detected, while the most recent case of Delta was sequenced back in March.

“Global data tells us that Delta is now reported at zero per cent — so it seems the Omicron variants have suppressed it to such a level where it’s become undetectable,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that there aren’t Delta cases out there walking around, but just that it’s being out-competed by all of these other subvariants.”

Infections with the high-profile BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, meanwhile, had so far been confined to border cases.

to provide emergency and life preserving services. “Please come to your scheduled appointment unless we have contacted you directly to say your appointment is being rescheduled.”