Media release. 10 January 2019 | Counties Manukau District Health Board has full contingency plans in place ahead of industrial action by junior doctors starting from 7am Tuesday 15 January to 7am Thursday, 17 January.
“Our priority is the provision of urgent and acute care to those who really need it. Our Emergency Department will be fully staffed and we will have the capacity to undertake all acute surgery and medical procedures” says CM Health Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gloria Johnson.
“The strike action inevitably means that we may need to reschedule some of our non-urgent patient appointments and most of our elective surgery. We sincerely regret that this is necessary and we apologise to affected patients.
“We will endeavour not to reschedule, where possible, so unless you are contacted by one of our team at Counties Manukau DHB, you should come to your usual scheduled appointment..
“Patients whose appointments have been rescheduled have been contacted directly. We aim to reschedule all appointments to the next available date.
“We apologise to our community who have been impacted by this industrial action. It is an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence of the strike action undertaken by those of our staff who are members of the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association” says Dr Johnson.
“A large number of our health services are unaffected. We will also directly contact people whose appointments are not affected by the strike to reconfirm their appointments will go ahead.”
People who remain uncertain should feel free to call our toll free number 0800 277 1661.
“We would like to assure all our patients that we are here if you need us. We will certainly have other medical staff who will be available and provide urgent services through our emergency department,” says Dr Johnson.
During the two days of the strike, if people experience a condition that is not urgent or severe, please contact Healthline on 0800 611 116 or their GP in the first instance.
In an emergency always call 111.
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Issued by: Counties Manukau Health Communications
Media Line: 09 250 9857 Email: Communications@middlemore.co.nz