APEX Union have announced their members in Whangarei, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, and the South Island will take industrial action (strike) on Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 March 2025.
The strike is a full withdrawal of labour, which means APEX Union members who work in the laboratory, collection centres, and logistics and support staff (in some regions), will strike on these days.
- Most laboratory services across the South Island will be unavailable during these days, with no routine services available across the three-day period.
- Our teams have been working closely with Health NZ to manage the impacts to hospital services and the wider health sector. Priority will be ensuring those who are seriously ill still receive the critical, life preserving services they need.
Please select the service you work in below for more detailed information on what the impact is in that area. Services do vary across the South Island so if you are in doubt please contact your local laboratory.
Christchurch City Primary Care
Laboratory testing will be severely impacted.
Collection Centres:
- The Northfield and Ashburton collection centres will be open until 11:30am on these three days
- All other Awanui Labs collection centres closed for all three days
- No routine courier pick-ups
- Drop boxes will NOT be cleared on this day
- Only samples for critically urgent testing will be processed and supporting clinical details MUST be given on the request form
- Testing will be triaged and non-critical samples may be declined
- To request a critically urgent courier pick-up please call 03 359 0900 (NOTE: Christchurch city only, NOT available for rural area)
Microbiology Services:
- Due to the prolonged nature of microbiology work, routine microbiology samples cannot be sent to the laboratory and will not be processed from Monday 24 March to Friday 28 March.
- Clinical details must be present on all requests
Histology:
- Please restrict requests. Turnaround time will be affected by the industrial action.
Phlebotomy Services:
- On-call collections unavailable
- Home Visits strictly limited to critical care collections; requests will be triaged based on clinical need.
Ashburton Primary Care
Laboratory testing will be severely impacted
Collection Centres:
- The Northfield and Ashburton collection centres will be open until 11:30am on these three days
- All other collection centres will be closed for all three days
- No routine specimen pick-ups
Microbiology Services restricted
- Due to the prolonged nature of microbiology work, routine microbiology samples will not be tested from Monday 24 to Friday 28 March
- Clinical details must be present on all requests.
Histology:
- Please restrict requests. Turnaround times will be affected by this Industrial Action.
Phlebotomy Services:
- On-call collections unavailable
- Home Visits strictly limited to critical care collections; requests will be triaged based on clinical need.
Canterbury Rural GPs
Laboratory testing will be severely impacted.
- Most courier pick-ups for rural practices have been cancelled for these dates. Individual notifications have been issued, contact our call centre for specific information if required.
- The Northfield and Ashburton collection centres will be open until 11:30am on these three days
- All other collection centres will be closed for all three days
Microbiology Services:
- Due to the prolonged nature of microbiology work, routine microbiology samples cannot be sent to the laboratory and will not be processed from Monday 24 March to Friday 28 March.
- Clinical details must be present on all requests
Histology:
- Please restrict requests. Turnaround time will be affected by the industrial action.
Canterbury Private Hospitals
Laboratory testing will be severely impacted
How this affects Private Hospitals in Christchurch:
- Hospital ward rounds will be carried out by Awanui staff as usual and specimens collected by hospital staff transported to the laboratory with those samples.
- The last courier for specimen pick-up from your facility will be between 5pm and 6pm. You will be advised in advance of the pick-up time.
Histology:
- Un-booked frozen sections – please call the laboratory as usual to arrange an urgent courier pick up.
- Turnaround time of other samples may be affected by the Industrial Action.
Microbiology Services restricted:
- Due to the prolonged nature of microbiology work, routine microbiology samples will not be tested from Monday 24 to Friday 28 March
Collection Centres:
- The Northfield and Ashburton collection centres will be open until 11:30am on these three days
- All other Awanui Labs Collection Centres closed for all three days
- Drop boxes will NOT be cleared on this day
Canterbury Aged Care Facilities
Collection Centres:
- The Northfield and Ashburton collection centres will be open until 11:30am on these three days
- All other collection centres will be closed for all three days
- No routine specimen pick-ups
Microbiology Services restricted
- Due to the prolonged nature of microbiology work, routine microbiology samples will not be tested from Monday 24 to Friday 28 March
- Clinical details must be present on all requests.
Home Visits:
- Strictly limited critical care Home Visits, requested by a doctor, on these days only. Please email the Home Visit co-ordinator; requests will be triaged based on clinical need.
- No on-call collections out of hours will be available.
Timaru / South Canterbury
Phlebotomy and laboratory services are suspended 25, 26 & 27 March 2025
Critically Urgent or Life Preserving Laboratory Requests only
- The Timaru Laboratory only has one (1) scientist rostered for urgent hospital and primary care patients.
- Routine patient specimen samples must NOT be collected and sent to the laboratory on the strike days:
- Any routine priority specimen samples cannot be kept at the laboratory for the next day. They will be compromised and require repeat bleeding of patients.
Courier collections:
- Routine collections are UNAVAILABLE – courier will be on stand-by for critically urgent requests only on the strike days.
- Awanui Labs courier will only be available to collect critically urgent pick-ups – please call 03-687 2253 to arrange a collection. Alternatively, phone 027 524 7561 in case the first number is not answered.
- Please note, we only have one courier covering South Canterbury for Timaru, Temuka, Geraldine, Fairlie and Waimate for urgent requests.
Collection Centres:
- 4 Dee Street: CLOSED
- Temuka: CLOSED
- Timaru Hospital: CLOSED
Scheduled pathology bleeds will need to occur on an alternative day to strike action, at our collection centres. The below services unavailable for the duration of strike period. Appointments for these procedures at Awanui Labs will be made outside of the industrial action period by laboratory staff.
- Therapeutic bleeds
- Allergy testing
- Glucose Tolerance Testing
Home visits: UNAVAILABLE
- Referrers need to schedule all home visit requests prior to the strike days including patients on clozapine therapy. Urgent requests on the strike days should be collected by medical or nursing staff other than Awanui Labs staff.
- Hospital patient bleeds for critically urgent and Life Preserving Services only will need to be performed by Bidwill Hospital medical or nursing staff on the strike days.
Laboratory Services:
- All laboratory processing and testing services are UNAVAILABLE across South Canterbury. Defer or arrange all scheduled routine testing on the strike days.
- Routine Transfusion Services: routine group and hold testing and issuing of routine blood components and products will be unavailable the whole day. Defer all routine requests for elective procedures and scheduled patients, that may result in group and hold requests and cross matches on the strike days.
- Microbiology Services: Routine urine, swabs, faecal samples for culturing will be unavailable from Monday 24 to Thursday 27 March 2025. Defer all routine testing. Microbiology samples should NOT be sent to the laboratory from Monday 24 to Thursday 27 March 2025. Due to Industrial Action, the laboratory would not be able to do follow up processing of culture samples received from Monday 24 to Thursday 27 March 2025.
- Fertility semen analysis and post vasectomy semen analysis: UNAVAILABLE
- Biochemistry, Haematology, Coagulation Services: Routine testing UNAVAILABLE on strike days.