The Government's being slammed for calling in the army during the nurses strike at the start of the month. 

Parliament's been told 17 military nurses were deployed.

National's health spokesman Michael Woodhouse says it's only the third time in the past 70 years that the military's been called on during strikes.

"It just shows quite how ham-fisted the industrial relations management of the nurses industrial dispute has become.

"When we're calling in the army to man our hospitals, to staff our hospitals, during an industrial dispute."

But Health Minister David Clark told Parliament the safety of the public was paramount.

"As this was the first industrial action by nurses in a generation, it was prudent to do all that we could to ensure our hospitals had enough nurses in place for the duration of the strike. If it was for that reason, as Minister of Health, I requested help from the defence force."

Woodhouse says it's incumbent on the Government to resolve the nurses' dispute.