Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard: National Chief Medical Officer for Health NZ on tomorrow's planned nurses' strike

Tens of thousands of nurses will walk off the job tomorrow.

Last-ditch talks between Health NZ and the country's biggest nurses' union have failed to stop a nationwide strike.

Health NZ estimates more than 4,000 planned procedures and specialist appointments will have to be postponed.

National Chief Medical Officer, Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, says essential services will continue - but warns people needing non-emergency care should contact their GP or Healthline first.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afternoon. More than thirty six thousand nurses are going on
strike for twenty four hours from nine tomorrow morning. Hospitals
are still going to be opened, but an estimated four
three hundred planned procedures and specialist appointments will have to
be postponed. Dane Helen Stokes Lampard is the acting Chief
Clinical Officer at Health New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Afternoon, Helen good, afternoon. Okay, if someone is sick tomorrow
or injured, should they still go to hospital?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Health New Zealand is committed to looking after our most
vulnerable patients and ensuring people are safe throughout this really
difficult time. However, people who'll require non emergency care, we
would ask them to contact their GP first or to
call Health Fline. That's eight hundred and six eleven eleven
six in the first instance, because we do need to
prioritize our emergency department for the true emergencies. If you're

(00:48):
frightened and you're not insured, do seek health, but just
be prepared that if it's not an emergency, care is
likely to be slower in our eds, which are already
incredibly busy at this time of year.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, how many nurses do you imagine you would have
like out of a full roster tomorrow during this twenty
four hours, Well.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
We'll be running at a very light level of nursing,
the sort of cove you'd expect on a bank holiday
like Christmas Day. So the minimum to provide safe care,
that's what we aim to do. Life preserving services is
how we define the care that's provided. And then those
who want to go on strike otherwise are free to
do so, but that does mean everybody else pulling together
to provide the cover to ensure the safe service, and

(01:27):
so everything else has to be deprioritized at that time.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
How far apart are you guys with the nurses paywise.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, obviously we're disappointed that industrial action is going ahead,
and we were very keen that the our offer to
the unions we believe is fair, and what we want
to do is encourage the unions to focus their efforts
on the bargaining so that any outstanding issues can be resolved.
We honestly don't know right now. I would like to
think that everyone is keen to see a resolution as
soon as possible.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I mean, to be fair, what you're offering actually doesn't
seem that annri So how much more are they asking?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Well, I'm not privy to the details of those. You'd
have to ask one of my colleagues. But my understanding
is that a lot of the concerns are about safe staffing,
and of course all of us are health in New
Zealand are absolutely committed to some staff.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Are are you saying it's not so much about pay,
it's about staffing levels.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Starting levels are one of the issues they're talking about,
and for us, safe staffing is all about the mix
of skills that we have, the way we provide care,
strong clinical judgment and sort of thoughtful decision making from
everybody on the frontline.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
So can I just get your taking on something. So
one of the complaints from the nurses organization has been
there recently in christ you there was such a shortage
of healthcare workers that family and friends were asked to
come in and look after people who were in hospital.
Is that acceptable?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
It shouldn't have to happen that this is the case,
but there have been situations that are undesirable. What we
want is for people to be working within their right scope.
So that's healthcare professionals doing what healthcare professionals do. Clearly,
if family and friends want to help out, well that's different.
But it shouldn't be that in Health New Zealand that
we need to help a family and friends to run

(03:06):
a service.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Helen, thank you so much, Dame Helen Stokes Lampard, Acting
Health New Zealand Chief Clinical Officer. For more from Hither
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