District Health Boards have received the recommendation of the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) suggesting how to settle employment contract negotiations with NZNO.

DHB spokesperson Helen Mason is pleased to receive the document which DHBs will consider carefully before deciding next steps.

NZNO nurses midwives and healthcare assistants strike for 24 hours starting at 07:00 am tomorrowmorning (Thursday 12 July) and the DHBs have been in facilitation with the union and the Employment Relations Authority over the past two days.

“The recommendation is the considered opinion of a third party expert who understands the issues, has looked at all the information and has recommended a solution – most importantly the ERA facilitator is independent.

“What’s particularly disappointing for DHBs is that the NZNO decided to proceed with the strike, before the final recommendation was made, and before its members had a chance to consider it.

“We’ll carefully consider the ERA’s recommendation before deciding how to approach reaching a settlement.”

Ms Mason says the immediate focus for hospitals is ensuring patient and staff safety over the next two days.

“Doctors and all other staff will be working to ensure anyone who needs urgent hospital care will get it, but nurses are highly skilled and we can’t pretend those skills can be replaced – they can’t.”

Ms Mason says, emergency and essential services will be provided and people should not delay seeking medical treatment and go to hospital if the matter is urgent. They should dial 111 for emergencies or an ambulance.

For all other matters people should do what they normally do and visit their GP or pharmacy, and free medical advice is available 24/7 through Healthline (phone 0800 0800 611 116).

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1807/11_July_18_DHBs_receive_facilitators_recommendation.pdf

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