For the first time senior doctors and dentists will be striking for better pay and working conditions on Tuesday, forcing 250 operations to be postponed or cancelled.
Te Whatu Ora says it's "frustrated and extremely disappointed" that the union rejected its offer.
Protesting for pay is something the healthcare sector is well used to. But instead of nurses, this time it'll be our senior doctors.
"It's a new thing for our members and it's something that to be honest we didn't expect to have to do just to maintain the value of their salaries," said Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
Five-and-a-half-thousand doctors and 100 dentists will walk off the job for two hours on Tuesday - resulting in 250 operations being postponed or cancelled.
And the health bosses aren't happy.
"We are disappointed and frustrated that the union hasn't taken the offer out to our doctors and talked to them further about it," said Andrew Slater, chief people officer at Te Whatu Ora.
The offer was a salary increase of between 7 and 12.9 percent, but the union says that's over 17 months and is not in line with inflation.
"We're simply asking them to meet what we claimed, which is a reasonable sum," Dalton said.
Those working on the frontline told AM it's a catastrophe.
"The system is failing, and unless we make a stand - who else will?" Wairarapa Hospital emergency department clinical head Dr Norman Gray asked.
"We acknowledge the pressure the health system is under, particularly globally after the pandemic - it's an issue that's repeated all over the world," Slater said.
The union's calling on the Government to urgently address falling staff numbers and increasing wait times for patients - because it's driving mortality rates up.
"There's suffering, there's indignity, and overall, for people that are seriously ill and need admission, there is increased mortality rates," Dr Gray warned.
The union will be picketing outside more than 30 public hospitals around the country tomorrow, ahead of a meeting with Te Whatu Ora on Wednesday. If that mediation fails then there'll be two more strikes this month.
And they're vowing to fight until they get what they want.
