Junior doctors are striking for the third time this month today, with 290 Blood Service laboratory workers also walking off the job this week.
Te Whatu Ora has accused the unions of knowingly scheduling the strikes at the same time to cause maximum disruption, saying the dual action will compound the impact on patients.
Hundreds of operations were postponed in last week’s strike.
That included in the days leading up to the industrial action, to make sure there were fewer people in the ward that might be affected by the strike.
More surgeries were being deferred today.
The blood lab workers started their industrial action yesterday by not working any extra hours, and are going on strike for four hours on Friday.
The PSA – which represented the lab workers – said the Blood Service and Te Whatu Ora were keeping a close eye on blood stocks and some staff would return to work if blood was needed for life-preserving reasons.
There was enough on hand for acute operations that could not be deferred, it said.
The four-hour strike was part of wider action that included not working extra hours and not processing AHF plasma, which was sent to Australia for commercial processing rather than directly to hospitals.