Radiation Therapy National Strike on Monday 8 August

1700 – Friday July 22, 2022

 

A national strike by radiation therapists was notified today to Health New Zealand to take place on Monday 8 August 2022.

 

Radiation therapists are health professionals trained to deliver radiation oncology treatment to cancer patients. Radiation therapists (RTs) plan courses of radiation treatment and deliver the treatment in New Zealand’s public health system.

 

According to Te Aho o Te Kahu – New Zealand Cancer Control Agency in 2018, 33 percent of New Zealanders with cancer received radiation therapy.

 

The strike will halt the delivery of radio-therapy services at Auckland City Hospital, Waikato Hospital, Palmerston North Hospital, Christchurch Hospital and Dunedin Hospital, to all but the most urgent patients. APEX union represents 220 radiation therapists covered by a proposed national collective agreement. [1]

 

“Despite being in bargaining since February our members have still not received an offer to settle their collective agreement,” said Dr Deborah Powell, National Secretary the APEX Union.

 

“The country’s radiation therapy workforce is small but critical. We already have some centers like Palmerston North and Christchurch significantly understaffed. The risk of large numbers of RTs, especially senior RTs, leaving the public health system cannot be understated,” continued Dr Powell.

 

“We now have 16 days before the strike for Health NZ to make the right choice. It is more important to invest in the health workforce so they can continue to treat cancer patients, a choice made more imperative by the current cost of living crisis?” concluded Dr Powell, National Secretary of APEX.

 

ENDS

 

Contact: Dr Deborah Powell, National Secretary M: 021 614 040

[1] APEX Union represents allied, scientific and technical health professionals including radiographers, medical laboratory workers, anaesthetic technicians, radiation therapists, psychologists, clinical physiologists and more.