More than five-thousand senior doctors have taken to picket lines across the country, asking for a 1.5 percent pay rise

Up to 43-hundred planned care procedures are being affected.

A number of nurses and home support workers are also striking at the same time.

Middlemore Hospital Doctor, Sylvia Boys, says the pressure on doctors is damaging for patients.

She says people languishing on surgery lists for months are now suffering severe complications.