Mike Houlahan

The Southern District Health Board is hoping to implement an advance care directive scheme for mental health patients in the region.

Twenty booklets advising over-60s of their entitlements have landed Dunedin South MP Clare Curran in more hot water.

The Dunedin School of Medicine graduates of 1968 did not just make a contribution to healthcare — they also  changed the architecture of the Scott Building.

Almost half of all cancer patients would benefit from radiation therapy but medical students receive precious little training about it, a new study suggests.

The Ministry of Health has renewed concerns about health ill-effects caused by Arthrem, a joint health supplement developed in part through clinical trials at Dunedin Hospital.

Law changes proposed for next year will go some way to address issues raised by a major international journalistic investigation of issues with medical implants, Medsafe says.

On November 28, 1893, New Zealand women lined up to vote in a general election for the first time. Mike Houlahan looks at the day’s events, plus the historical and contemporary influence of the...

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed 9000 New Zealanders, as well as several of the doctors and nurses who tended them. One of those was Margaret Cruickshank — the first woman to be registered as a...

The 1918 influenza pandemic was no respecter of rank and on November 22, 1918 it claimed its most notable Dunedin victim — Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin Michael Verdon. Mike Houlahan looks back...

Lessons from the 1918 influenza pandemic have been applied to Government planning for any future disease outbreaks, health reporter Mike Houlahan writes.

Information given to Central Otago residents about interim changes to after-hours medical care may have been ''over-complicated,'' the Southern District Health Board conceded yesterday.

A trial aimed at cutting the number of southern hospital patients who do not attend appointments has been hailed a success.

The Southern District Health Board is still trying to work out how to catch up on operations postponed because of the strike by nurses in July.

Health authorities say maternity and birthing facilities will operate normally, despite nationwide industrial action by midwives.

Demand for gastroenterology services has reached a record high but New Zealand lacks the specialists to treat those patients, a new report says.

New midwives have been recruited for Queenstown and Wanaka, as the Southern District Health Board's controversial maternity plan is rolled out.

A Milford Sound woman has been confirmed as having measles - the first case of the highly infectious illness in New Zealand since May.

Gastroenterology has a high-profile thanks to the national bowel screening programme but the discipline is far wider, New Zealand Society of Gastroenterology president Michael Schultz says.