Services suspended at Auckland hospital

Some services at Auckland Hospital will be suspended while radiographers walk off the job for the next three days over a pay dispute.

Starship Hospital radiographers will also take strike action.

The action will mean X-rays, MRI scans and CT scans at Auckland Hospital will not be available, except in emergencies, until Monday.

Some elective surgery will be postponed.

Association of Professional and Executive Employees (Apex) national secretary Deborah Powell said employers had refused to negotiate and had made no pay rise offer despite an increase in productivity and a 3 per cent budget rise for district health boards (DHBs), Radio New Zealand reported.

Radiographers nationwide have been taking industrial action since late February over the pay claim.

DHBs spokesman and Bay of Plenty DHB chief executive Phil Cammish said earlier any wage increase would have to be affordable.

- NZPA