Nurses at Health NZ public hospitals and health services plan to strike from 7am to 11pm on both Tuesday 2 September and Thursday 4 September. Emergency departments will be open for emergencies only.
GPs, after-hours and urgent care clinics, and other community health providers are not affected by the strikes and will continue to operate as normal.
Industrial action — Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Oraexternal link
If you have any of the following symptoms call 0800 739 432external link to talk to a nurse before completing a request:
Your request will be sent to Awanui Labs and you can go there to have your blood test after 2 business days.
Results can take up to one week. You will only be contacted if your test is positive for syphilis or HIV.
Find an Awanui Labs Centre near youexternal link
If you are diagnosed with syphilis or HIV, Auckland Sexual Health Service will organise treatment for you. Treatment is free and confidential for everyone.
Anyone is eligible for free HIV and syphilis testing through our service. If a test is positive, treatment is also free, regardless of residential status.
If you would like a full STI check, including chlamydia and gonorrhoea tests as well as HIV and syphilis, contact us to see if you are eligible through our service.
There is an outbreak of syphilis in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Symptoms are often invisible, so people do not even know they have it until they have a blood test. Syphilis is easy to identify and easy to treat. Treatment is simple — antibiotics cure syphilis.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that you can get through having close sexual contact, including oral sex. Syphilis is a serious infection and can affect your heart, brain and even cause death if untreated. If you have syphilis while you are pregnant, it can affect your pēpi — up to 40% of babies with congenital syphilis will die.
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens its ability to fight everyday infections and diseases. HIV can be passed on through body fluids such as:
To find out if you have HIV you need to have an HIV blood test.
Without treatment, people can get very sick. HIV may not cause health issues for a few years, so it is important to get tested, even if you do not have any symptoms. There is no cure but excellent treatment is available. With treatment, people can stay well and live as long as someone without HIV. It is best to start treatment as soon as possible.
When a person with HIV is on effective treatment the virus becomes undetectable in their blood. Once someone is stable on treatment, with undetectable virus for at least 6 months, there is zero risk of sexual transmission. This is known as U=U (undetectable = untransmittable).
