Private sector laboratories run on workers' goodwill, but for how much longer?

Awanui Labs (formerly APHG), the largest provider of private laboratory services in the country, is refusing to adequately compensate staff to perform a life preserving blood transfusion service.

Massive Transfusion Protocols (or MTPs) are required when a patient has lost a significant amount of blood, whether it be from a car crash, surgery complications, or an assault related injury etc. These patients need an immediate transfusion of blood to save their life. MTPs are a stressful procedure that requires a minimum of two staff members to complete. If the appropriate staff are not available, there is a high probability that patients will die.

There are several Awanui laboratories that, due to short staffing, have as little as one laboratory technician on nightshifts. In these laboratories when an MTP is required at night a list of staff who are not at work or formally on-call is used until someone agrees to come in to complete this life-saving procedure. The workers on this list are not paid to be on call, instead Awanui Labs relies on the goodwill of their staff to come into work and complete the procedure.

‘This practice is dangerous and unsustainable,’ said APEX Associate Advocate Sammy Heimsath today, ‘It is only a matter of time until no one picks up the phone, and a patient suffers the consequences.’ he continued.

APEX is pushing Awanui Labs to implement an emergency on-call roster which would see staff members paid to make themselves available for when an emergency arises. To date the union’s request has met a brick wall with Awanui Labs refusing to implement emergency rosters.

‘It appears that the company’s refusal is based on cost and ignores patient safety,’ said Mr Heimsath. ‘The question needs to be asked, at what point does the pursuit of profits, at the expense of worker and patient safety, become unacceptable to the government and the public that it serves?’