Interruption to service 29 May – 4 June

Notification of Industrial Action has been received for a partial withdrawal of services by APEX union members at Awanui Labs Canterbury between Thursday 29 May and Wednesday 4 June 2025.

The industrial action will impact referrers and patients as per below:

Biochemistry

  • Please restrict URINE tests
  • DO NOT submit urine samples for routine biochemistry tests. This includes both random and 24hour urine collections. Testing will be declined for routine requests.
  • Urgent Urine requests will still be processed if clear clinical details are provided
  • Requests for urine samples on pregnant patients will be processed, if clear clinical details are provided

Microbiology

  • Turnaround times for genital swabs may be delayed

Histology

  • Turnaround times may be extended and results delayed.

Call Centre

Collection centres

  • Wait times may be longer than usual.
  • Advise patients to use the online booking system to make a blood collection booking – Awanui Labs Booking

As always, we thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Download PDF of services affected here.