The Australian specialist appointed to the expert panel to advise the Ministry of Health on neurosurgery services in the South has previously stated the minimum population requirement for a neurosurgery unit is 300,000 to 350,000.
The southern neurosurgery row needs to be resolved quickly and with common sense, two senior orthopaedic surgeons say.
A report into a complaint against the Otago District Health Board involving a Dunedin Hospital patient whose treatment was delayed because of strikes suggested "the wrong party is in the dock".
Although Dunedin Hospital's intensive care unit is long overdue for redevelopment and it is short of specialists, staff still get the job done cheerfully, the unit's clinical leader, Mike Hunter, says.
South Island-wide health services have come a step closer, with all six southern district health boards collaborating to plan long-term sustainable health services.
South Island district health board representatives could not reach consensus on the future structure of neurosurgery services for the South at their recent meeting in Christchurch.
The outcome of the Otago District Health Board's fight to retain neurosurgery services in Dunedin may be clearer by next Friday.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin says he has his "loins girded" and is ready to advocate for retention of neurosurgeons in Dunedin should that prove necessary.
Emergency care for people in remote areas of Otago and Southland could be compromised if neurosurgery is offered only from Christchurch, Dunedin-based National list MP Michael Woodhouse says.
Almost a month after he was asked to urgently resolve the southern neurosurgery services row, Director-general of Health Stephen McKernan yesterday announced he will convene an expert panel to address the issue.
The battle over neurosurgery services in the South is expected to be placed in the hands of Director-general of Health Stephen McKernan next week.
Civic leaders have been invited to a meeting this Friday in Dunedin to discuss the future of neurosurgery services in the South.
A neurosurgeon has been on call to cover Dunedin Hospital at all times since it began relying on outside neurosurgeons at the beginning of last year, Southern District Health Board chief executive Brian Rousseau says.
Southern District Health Board members should speak out over neurosurgery services and have the courage to back their chief executive's bid to employ two neurosurgeons immediately, an Otago woman with recent experience of the service says.
The Southern District Health Board has tried to stay true to the process being followed to review neurosurgery services in the South without "selling ourselves short", chairman Errol Millar says.
If Southern District Health Board chief executive Brian Rousseau decides to appoint two neurosurgeons, the Director-general of Health Stephen McKernan does not have the statutory power to stop him.
The Southern District Health Board would be prepared to be the lead district health board for neurosurgery services offered in Christchurch and Dunedin.
Health Minister Tony Ryall hopes a decision on neurosurgery services in the South can be made within two months.
National health services improvement is not about tinkering with things or change for the sake of it, National Health Board director Chai Chuah says.
The possible loss of an outpatient clinic at Oamaru Hospital and $2 million extra cost for the Southern District Health Board were among concerns raised by southern MPs questioned about the neurosurgery services impasse.
