Notification of industrial action has been received for a withdrawal of labour at Awanui Labs on Monday 5 February and an overtime ban from Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 February.

Collection Centres:

• Monday 5 February – All Christchurch and Waimakariri Awanui Labs collection centres will be CLOSED, our Ashburton collection centre will be OPEN
• Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 February – All Christchurch and Waimakariri Awanui Labs collection centres will be closing early at 3pm.

Courier Service 5 February:

• Urgent courier pick up ONLY.
• No routine laboratory courier service.
• To request an urgent courier pick up please call 03 359 0900 (NOT available for rural areas)
• Drop boxes will NOT be cleared on this day

Laboratory testing 5-9 February

• Please minimise and defer testing
• Defer screening microbiology samples e.g. Seminal fertility testing
• Consider empiric treatment where appropriate and only submit samples where results alter patient management.
• Please note results may be delayed for non urgent/routine Microbiology tests (e.g. H. pylori, fungi)

Note: This industrial action does not impact Canterbury Health Laboratories services or collection centres, which will be operating as usual over this period. CHL collection centre locations:

• Christchurch Hospital Outpatients
• Burwood Hospital
• Ashburton Hospital

Collection Centres

4 Dee Street	CLOSED
Timaru Hospital	CLOSED
Temuka Collection Centre	CLOSED
Hospital Ward Rounds	Unavailable
Home Visits	Unavailable

Courier Services

• Unavailable
• Urgent courier pick-ups for critical blood requests only.  To request an urgent pick up please contact 027 524 7561.

Laboratory Services

• Biochemistry, haematology, microbiology, and transfusion medicine:
  • Critically urgent service only – 00:00 – 23:59
  • To help the laboratory team manage the workload during the strike period we ask that any non-urgent microbiology testing work in the Southern region is deferred from Saturday 3 February – Tuesday 7 February 2024.