Patients will be informed by SMS or phone call if their appointment is canceled.
The Finnish nurses’ unions Tehy (The Union of Health and Social Care Professionals) and Super (The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses) have begun a strike at 06:00 on Friday morning.
The strike concerns nurses in the hospital districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa, North Ostrobothnia, North Savonia, Finland Proper, Pirkanmaa and Central Finland.
“Because of the strike nearly all non-urgent care must be postponed until the strike is over,” HUS Helsinki University Hospital notes in a statement. “Patients will be informed by SMS or phone call if their appointment is canceled.”
HUS explains that since the duration of the strike is unknown, appointments will be canceled gradually.
“This is why it is possible that patients will be informed about a cancellation only a day in advance,” Markku Mäkivjärvi, the chief medical officer at HUS, says in a statement.
The main reason for the strike is because the unions’ proposal of an extra 3.6 percent increase in salaries over the next five years—on top of the standard pay increase—has not been accepted by the local government employers’ organizations.
The strike concerns 25,000 nurses.
