27 September 2018

Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s Anaesthetic Technicians, who are members of the Association of Professionals and Executive Employee Inc (APEX), have voted to strike for 24 hours from 7am 5 October until 7am 6 October.

Chief executive Kevin Snee said anaesthetic technicians were an integral part of operating theatre teams and any operation, requiring a general anaesthetic, must have a technician present. “This will unfortunately mean that 13 elective surgeries that required a general anaesthetic, planned for the day of the strike will be postponed. Only life preserving operations will go ahead.”

Those patients directly affected will be contacted and their surgeries will be rescheduled as soon we practically can.

During the strike, Hawke’s Bay Hospital will continue to provide life preserving surgeries as part of an agreement with APEX.

Dr Snee thanked staff and the contingency planning team for the support they were offering the DHB at his time. All other parts of Hawke’s Bay Hospital will continue to function as normal.

“We apologise to our patients, whose operations have had to be deferred, and we will rebook them as soon as we can,” he said.

Dr Snee said the bargaining team was continuing to work with the union. “We are always hopeful we can reach agreement, but we need to plan for the event and postpone and reschedule those surgeries now.”

If patients haven’t heard from one of our team they can call 06 878 8109 for more information.

More information can be found www.ourhealthhb.nz

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