About 450 patients whose appointments were deferred due to the now-cancelled July 5 nurses strike are now having their arrangements rebooked by the Southern District Health Board.
Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation are voting this week on whether to accept a revised pay offer from DHBs - a proposal the union has recommended members accept.
Strike action is still scheduled for July 12 and will go ahead if the pay offer is rejected when voting closes on July 9.
The SDHB should have contacted all patients affected by the aborted July 5 industrial action no later than today, contingency planning lead Jenny Hanson said.
''The majority of appointments and elective surgeries that we postponed last week have now been rescheduled,'' she said.
Patients at Dunedin and Southland hospitals were the most affected by the scrapped strike action, and a similar number of people stand to be affected if the long-running dispute is not settled and the planned July 12 strike by NZNO nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants proceeds.
SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming said plans were in place if NZNO members shunned the revised pay offer, and patients affected by any industrial action would be contacted from early next week.
