Row means painkillers and a wait for some

Patients with a broken arm face being sent home with painkillers to wait out the x-ray workers' strike starting tomorrow. It is expected to cause widespread hospital disruption for a fortnight.

Some 260 radiographers at four North Island health boards and three in the South Island plan to walk out for three days at 7am in support of their bid for pay parity with colleagues at other public hospitals.

Thousands of patients are affected.

Virtually all elective surgery has been postponed and outpatient clinics have been cut back to keep patient numbers low. People who might otherwise go to a hospital emergency department have been asked to see their GP unless their case is a genuine emergency.

This week's three-day action will be followed by two 24-hour walk-outs next week at six of the seven boards.

"The strike ... will reduce affected hospitals to virtually emergency services only - most of them for a fortnight," say the health boards.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board expects unprecedented disruption at its Tauranga and Whakatane hospitals, saying the strike will have a worse effect than the walk-out of junior doctors in June, since this time senior doctors will not be able to do the strikers' work.

"We could be looking at up to 30 patients a day that could have to come back [after the strike]," said the board's head of emergency planning, Andrew Keenan.

Only those with life-threatening injuries would be x-rayed at Tauranga Hospital's emergency department.

The seriously injured would be x-rayed at private clinics then brought back to the hospital for treatment.

People with minor injuries would be stabilised in a ward or sent home, with pain relief as needed. Someone with a simple forearm fracture, for instance, would be fitted with a "back slab", similar to a temporary cast, and told to come back for an x-ray after the strike, Mr Keenan said.

An emergency operations centre would be set up to deal with day-to-day processing of patients, but the concern was dealing with a major emergency.

"If we had a major incident, it would take us quite some time to get the call-back of the radiographers."

Eight or nine normally worked the day-shift at Tauranga Hospital. During the strike, two would be on call 24 hours for life-threatening emergencies. The board had sought Army help but was told it had no available resources.

Deborah Powell, national secretary of the radiographers' union, the Association of Professionals and Executive Employees, said talks with the health boards last week failed to make progress.

Striking was a last resort, she said, rejecting the boards' claim that it was calculated to cause maximum disruption to patients.

"This is a simple pay parity issue ... 25 per cent of [radiographers] nationwide are striking to achieve the same pay rates as the other 75 per cent ... nationwide doing the same job."

Boards paying less were losing radiographers to others or overseas.

Boards' spokesman Dwayne Crombie - his own board, Waitemata, is not involved - said the affected hospitals would be in emergency mode for a fortnight. "The action has been organised to put [on] extra pressure ... by punishing patients."


The strike

Around 260 radiographers - staff who take the x-rays or body scans needed by more than two-thirds of patients.

Seven district health boards affected: Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairawhiti, Hutt Valley, Canterbury, Otago, Southland.

First strike starts 7am tomorrow and ends 7am Friday.

Two more next week, each for 24 hours, starting on Tuesday and Thursday. Tairawhiti not affected by these.

Radiographers at other health boards not involved, because staff on different employment agreements expiring at different times.


Health boards say

* Both sides agree on an automatic pay scale from $42,000 to $57,000, with extra steps to $82,000 for additional training and qualifications. Most currently earn about 20 per cent extra in overtime and penal rates.

* This would be too costly in a one-year deal and they want 2 years.


Union says

* It offered a two-year term.

* Current automatic salary scale for most in the dispute is $33,371 to $43,791, with a discretionary maximum of $54,907.

* It wants $37,188 to $49,875, with discretionary maximum of $71,000.