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Waikato DHB frustrated by industrial action
Waikato DHB frustrated by industrial action
Waikato District Health Board has had enough of ongoing industrial action by medical radiation technologists and is letting its staff, patients and the community know.
Chief executive Craig Climo today said DHBs have had hundreds of strike notices over many months from two unions.
“We want the public to know we’ve had enough. The strikes are having a significant cumulative affect on patients’ access to services and are putting unfair pressure on other staff.
“90 per cent of our workforce has concluded employment arrangements this year all within an overall funding cap whereas these unions are demanding more and interestingly the same person negotiates for all the unions that won’t settle,” said Mr Climo.
Mr Climo is fronting a newspaper and radio advertising campaign to get the message out to the public that essential services were being held to ransom and that patients were suffering.
One patient in Thames over Labour Weekend had a broken arm and spent two days in pain because his arm could not be x-rayed.
“Responsibility for this industrial action rests with those people who think medical radiation technologists are worth more than nurses and other front line health professionals.
“As DHBs we have bent over backwards to sort out the things the union said were a problem and it’s still not good enough.”
Mr Climo says the union argues it is low level action. “It’s certainly not low level for people having their operations cancelled or waiting for diagnostic tests to be done.”
A clinical nurse manager at Waikato Hospital said there was little understanding generally of the impact this industrial action has had and is having on staff morale and the ability for them to get their work done.
“Whilst I feel for the radiographers and
their plight I personally think they have gone about this
industrial action the wrong way and have only proved to get
off side with those that they need support from due to the
extra work we have had to do to manage within the
constraints of their 'work to rule action' over the last
three months.”
ends
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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