National Telehealth Service Clinicians And Advisors To Strike For 24 Hours

NZNO (New Zealand Nurses Organisation) and PSA (Public Service Association) members working for the Government funded national telehealth services, run by Whakarongorau Aotearoa, will strike for 24 hours from 3.00pm Friday 15 September to 3.00pm Saturday 16 September.

There will be disruption to services during this time. Available staffing will be prioritised for services that support people in immediate danger. There will be significant delays in staff who are working, being able to respond to calls. During the strike, all non-phone channels (that’s text, webchat, and email) and call-back options will be unavailable.

The services expected to be available (at time of writing) are:

• Healthline
• Doctor services - doctor consults, Clinical Advice Line, doctor support for ambulance paramedics pilot
• 1737 need to talk? and the Depression Helpline (phone only, there will be no text option)
• COVID Healthline
• Vaccination Healthline
• Quitline
• National Poisons Centre and Immunisation Advisory Centre services
• Peer Support Service
• Earlier Mental Health Response service with Police
• Emergency Triage service with ambulance
• Mental Health After Hours
• Family Violence Services
• National Bowel Screening and National Cervical Screening coordination centres
• Seasonal pressures diversion pathways from rural, Māori and Pacific providers
• Puāwaitanga counselling service
• Whītiki Tauā mentoring service

The following services will be unavailable:

• Gambling Helpline
• Alcohol Drug Helpline
• The national sexual harm helpline Safe to talk
• The Elder Abuse Response Service

When people contact the services during this time, there will be messaging about expected delays or about the service being unavailable, and options to access alternative health support and information.

The teams will - as they always do - focus on doing one safe call at a time.

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