Elspeth McLean

Alison Shanks' golden performance last night was true to the last text she sent her Dunedin family before the race.

Calls for greater top-level emphasis on "lean thinking" in Dunedin Hospital were made at yesterday's Southern District Health Board meeting, but members were told change would cost money and could take up to five years.

Any thrill at being the first elected members of the newly formed Southern District Health Board after the elections next month is likely to be short-lived when the reality of the next three years hits.

Fees paid to the expert panel reviewing the configuration of South Island neurosurgery services total $1485 a day.

Dunedin hospital leaders say patients can be confident their doctors have up-to-date practising certificates.

More detail about progress on the introduction of "lean thinking" at Dunedin Hospital was called for by two hospitals' advisory committee members this week.

The distance Queenstown Lakes district cancer patients travel for oncology treatment must be addressed or the Southern Blood and Cancer Service will have failed to meet its objective to deliver services to rural areas, health board chief executive Brian Rousseau says.

Recent industrial action by medical radiographers has helped to push waiting times for urgent CT scans in Otago out to 10 weeks.

If there is insufficient goodwill to develop a single service offering neurosurgery in both Dunedin and Christchurch, the fallback position should be two separate units with three neurosurgeons each, Southern District Health Board chief executive Brian Rousseau says.

Nursing staff under pressure in Dunedin Hospital's busy emergency department are taking their concerns to management, but a quick fix seems unlikely The Otago Daily Times understands there is mounting anxiety among staff.

Lack of money to invest in quality improvement can be a serious barrier to achieving a high-performing hospital, executive director of the Boston University Health Policy Institute Prof Alan Cohen says.

The report of the South Island neurosurgery expert panel will be delivered at the end of October, two weeks later than originally planned, panel chairwoman Anne Kolbe announced yesterday.

After the political goings-on this past week, it should have been comforting to see the envelope proudly declaring "Voting document enclosed" nestling in my letter box.