About half of the nation’s junior doctors are poised to strike for 25 hours, starting from 7 AM on Tuesday until 8 AM on Wednesday.
Te Whatu Ora, the national health service, has assured the public that emergency departments will remain operational and is advising patients to keep their scheduled appointments unless notified otherwise. However, some hospitals, including Christchurch Hospital, may need to delay treatments, with affected patients to be contacted directly.
This strike involves about 2,500 junior doctors, all members of the Resident Doctors Association. The strike is expected to strain several areas of healthcare, although the full extent of the impact will only be known once after the strike ends according to Andrew Slater, Te Whatu Ora’s ‘chief of people’.
Despite the walkout essential health services will still be available supported by senior doctors and junior doctors from another major union who will continue to work, focusing particularly on life-saving services.
The striking doctors, ranging from recent medical school graduates to near-specialists, are primarily protesting a proposed pay structure that would see a smaller group of their colleagues facing pay cuts, despite most being slated for a 20 percent raise in the latest contract offer. Dr. Rosa Tobin Stickings, who is in training to be an emergency registrar, told state media the current conditions were ‘untenable’, including severe staff shortages that have made shifts increasingly challenging.
The demanding environment has led to widespread burnout among junior doctors, who often have to request annual leave a year in advance and struggle to get time off for further education. Despite substantial accrued leave balances, there has been little response from Te Whatu Ora on how to alleviate these pressures, Stickings said.
A second two-day strike is scheduled for May 16, with the union also planning to vote on additional actions.
Image credit: Marcelo Leal
Well that seems only fair.
Give Drs who save lives pay cuts and give parasitic politicians pay rises.
Completely justifiable
They can throw money at the regime in Ukraine, who are little more than a US proxy, they can talk of wasting vast sums of the warmongering AUKUS deal but they can’t ensure we have well funded hospitals??…WHY do people insist on voting for globalists???