7 Sep 2010

Hospital strike causes no serious problems

5:32 pm on 7 September 2010

District health boards say that while hundreds of patients around the country have been disrupted by a 24-hour radiographers' strike, staff have managed well, with no reports of any serious problems.

Boards say they have well-rehearsed plans for strike action and have coped well.

Eight hundred radiographers walked off the job at all public hospitals, except those in Christchurch and Taranaki, at 8am on Tuesday.

They are striking over pay. The APEX union representing them says it's still waiting for a new revised offer from DHBs.

The strike is an escalation of low-level industrial action by the group that has gone on for the past seven weeks.

Hospitals have been unable to do x-rays, images and scans, except in emergencies.

Christchurch has been exempted by the workers because of the quake, and radiology in Taranaki is contracted to a private firm.