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The Anglican Church called for the Government to end the strike by hospital radiation therapists saying there had been a moral failure in the health system.
About 170 radiation therapists nationwide this week started rolling strikes after pay talks between the therapists' union (APEX) and the district health boards failed.
Auckland Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral Dean, Bishop Richard Randerson, said the strike action put patients at risk and ultimately it was the responsibility of the Government to ensure essential services were provided to citizens.
"Government initiatives to this end would seem essential," he said.
"There is a fundamental moral failure in a system that allows strike action over a pay claim that prejudices the lives of cancer sufferers, or others in need of radiation therapy."
Treatment delays had a physical effect on patients, but also put the added stress of anxiety and uncertainty onto sufferers and their families, he said.
"A system that fails to discern the priority of the importance of human wellbeing ahead of finance is morally deficient."
The radiation therapists needed to stop the strike action, then a third party should assess the situation and recommend a solution, Mr Randerson said.
Yesterday, duty minister Jim Anderton said the chances of the Government stepping into any industrial dispute were remote.
"Although the Government funds the health system through the district health boards (DHBs), they are independent of government from an operational point of view," he said.
"Both sides of this situation have to take their responsibilities seriously -- and they both have a very onerous responsibility to sort this out."
The Cancer Society is also urging the Government to intervene, warning patients were facing dangerous delays in treatment because of the strikes.
Chief executive Dalton Kelly said the strikes were putting unnecessary stress on patients and if the nine-month industrial dispute continued the situation would just get worse.
The union representing the therapists says it would take only $150,000 to settle the dispute, and the DHBs have admitted the cost of the strikes is already more than that.
The therapists are seeking a 6 per cent pay rise over two years.
National's health spokesman Tony Ryall said the Government could not allow cancer patients and their families to be "cruelly mistreated" and Health Minister Pete Hodgson had to act.
Canterbury DHB therapists walked off the job yesterday for three days, with Auckland and Capital and Coast therapists planning to stop work for a day tomorrow and again next Monday.
MidCentral DHB therapists staged a half-day strike on Monday.
- NZPA
