Junior doctors’ strike: 200 missed operations, hundreds of canceled appointments

An estimated 200 patients were unable to have surgery last week, and hundreds more had their appointments canceled due to the junior doctors’ strike.

Further disruption is expected this week as half of the country’s doctors – around 2,500 – will stop work for two days, from May 16 to 18.

The doctors were on strike because around 600 of them were to receive a pay cut of up to 12 percent, while most were to receive a raise of around 20 percent.

They also challenged schedules that required them to work consecutive 15-hour shifts on certain weekends, in addition to working that week.

Te Whatu Ora Health NZ said 75 surgery sessions were canceled nationwide during the 25-hour strike, likely affecting around 200 patients.

A further 189 outpatient clinic sessions were cancelled, with Te Whatu Ora saying the number of patients per clinic varied so much he could not say exactly how many were affected.

Human resources director Andrew Slater said operations on some other patients would have been postponed before industrial action, particularly if they were complex cases.

“As part of the preparation for the strike, we had to decompress the hospital in the days leading up to ensure the safety of our patients and staff during the affected days,” he said.

The Association of Resident Doctors is one of two unions representing junior doctors. The impact of the strike therefore varied across the country, depending on the concentration of members in each hospital.

Te Whatu Ora did not respond to the question about which hospitals or services were most affected.

But last week staff at Waikato Hospital said they were badly affected and worried about safety ahead of this week’s bigger action.

Canterbury also announced it was canceling the proceedings.

Slater said that in areas where the union has a high number of doctors, rosters have been reorganized so that high-risk, non-deferrable essential surgeries and procedures can still take place.

He still hoped the strike would be called off, but hospitals were making contingency plans.

Senior doctors and junior doctors from the other union would continue to work and people would have to attend their appointments unless contacted directly, he said.

Emergency services would remain open.