Care services to disrupt in 6 hospital districts as nurses go on strike

Healthcare activities will be affected in six major hospital districts in the country as nurses decided to start a strike on Friday morning.

Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy) and Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) called the strike from 6;00 am to press home their demand for a formal agreement on the terms of continuing urgent care.

About 25,000 nurses and healthcare personnel will be refrained from work in six hospital districts- Helsinki and Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Southwest Finland, North Ostrobothnia, North Savo and Central Finland- due to the strike.

The unions, however, have assured to provide urgent care services to save the lives of patients and prevent permanent serious injuries.

Physicians of the hospital districts said that the care resources assured by Tehy and SuPer are not enough for running all necessary emergency care services and fared that emergency treatments also might be hampered due to the strike.

Meanwhile, the hospitals in the six districts on Thursday started to cancel appointments of the patients following the strike.

Because of the strike nearly all non-urgent care must be postponed until the strike is over, said the Helsinki-Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) in a press release on Thursday, adding that patients will be informed by SMS or phone call if their appointment is cancelled.

“On Thursday, March 31, we will start cancelling appointments and informing the patients by text message or telephone. Since the duration of the strike is unknown, we will cancel appointments gradually. This is why it is possible that patients will be informed about a cancellation only a day in advance”, said Chief Medical Officer of HUS Markku Mäkijärvi.

The authority urged the patients to answer calls coming from an unknown number and check their voicemail.

If a patient has not received an SMS or a phone call cancelling their appointment, they should attend the appointment as usual, the press release added.