Extra registrar for Dunedin neurosurgery

The development of neurosurgery at Dunedin Hospital will include the appointment of an extra registrar, it was announced yesterday.

This is in addition to the three consultant neurosurgeons sought for the Dunedin hub of the new South Island-wide service.

Shortlisting of candidates for two of those positions, a full-time clinical neurosurgeon and a senior University of Otago lecturer, should be completed this week.

The South Island Neurosurgery Service's governance board has had four meetings.

After the latest one, which was by teleconference yesterday, implementation manger Joy Farley said she expected interim appointments could be made in "weeks, not months".

It was unknown how long registration processes would take for successful applicants, but the board would work with the medical council to complete them as quickly as possible.

The board would not say how many applicants it had for the two positions.

The service's clinical director, Canterbury's Martin MacFarlane, who is visiting Dunedin regularly, will be working further on the appointment process during next week's visit.

Southern District Health Board chief operating officer (Otago) Vivian Blake said the hospital already had one registrar and the second appointment would be to support a second neurosurgeon.

Ms Farley said it was important that when the appointments were made the "service was good to go".

It is planned two of the three Dunedin-based neurosurgeons will have academic duties. The professor of neurosurgery position will be advertised soon.

At the moment, the Dunedin service has a long-term locum neurosurgeon.

Mr MacFarlane has had to reduce his clinical load to undertake his role with the board and ways that could be covered are being explored by the Southern and Canterbury boards.

Ms Farley said board members were delighted at the growing momentum in the development of the service.

Board chairman, Melbourne neurosurgeon Prof Andrew Kaye, thanked board members for their support, saying the service had come "a long way" since last year's expert panel review. People had put aside their past differences and were working together for the whole of the South Island.

Work has begun on establishing joint programmes for neurosurgical nurses throughout the island, with staff from Christchurch visiting Dunedin soon to set up a network.

Ms Farley said this would include teleconferencing, video-conferencing and possibly staff visits.

Preliminary work for the outreach service to be provided by the new service has also begun.

As well as looking at which centres might have outpatient clinics, the requirements for rehabilitation would be looked at, with the aim to design what best suited the needs of communities.

This could include looking at what might be offered in places such as Dunstan Hospital.

Ms Farley recently visited Timaru and Invercargill, meeting clinicians to discuss what was important to them, and how staff and patients could best be supported by the service.

elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz