Senior doctors and dentists at Health NZ public hospitals and health services plan to strike for 48 hours on Tuesday 23 September and Wednesday 24 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 strike and will continue to operate as normal.
About the strike
Social work — Waikato
Health social workers are professionally qualified social workers who assist patients and their whānau/families to manage the emotional and social impacts of illness and/or disability.
On this page
Where to find us
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora Waikato social workers are based throughout the community as well as at:
Services we provide
Health social workers assist people and their whānau to develop strategies to manage any changes that have happened as a result of ill health or disability.
Services include:
- supportive counselling around health issues and the impacts those issues have on both the individual and the whānau
- helping in all cases of suspected family violence, abuse and neglect
- supporting people and their whānau as they make important health-related decisions
- assisting people to access the available support services they may need in the community
- providing advice and support to access agencies such as Work and Income and ACC.
Referral information
You can access a health social worker through your healthcare provider, such as a:
- GP or family doctor
- district nurse
- public health nurse.
If you are in hospital, you can access a health social worker through:
- nursing or medical staff members
- other hospital staff, such as a kaitiaki or physiotherapist.