Mike Houlahan

An ageing population will place unprecedented demand on hospice services — a tide of patients Otago Community Hospice is preparing for now.

Cabinet dispensation was required for the Minister of Health to rule out a public-private partnership to build the new Dunedin Hospital, a newly released Cabinet paper says.

Few people like being told they are overweight — and portly patients seeing their doctors are no exception.

The firm hired by the Southern District Health Board to clear its backlog of ophthalmology cases says it is on course to carry out its contracted 1000 appointments.

Three other inner city sites were considered for the new Dunedin hospital before the Wilsons/Cadbury blocks were selected, a newly released Cabinet paper shows.

A social media site has transformed into a nationwide nurses movement which will stage rallies across New Zealand this weekend, including one in Dunedin.

The South Island's largest iwi has sent a strong signal it wants to be involved with the Dunedin hospital development.

The Government inquiry into mental health and addiction needs to take a broad view, encompassing factors which cause or exacerbate patients' problems, a mental health trust manager says.

Cabinet expects to consider the detailed business case for the new Dunedin hospital this year, Health Minister David Clark says.

Dunedin's new hospital will use renewable energy, but the details of what kind of technology will be chosen and how it will be used have yet to be finalised.

The beds at Otago Community Hospice are seldom full, but that  does not mean the organisation is not busy helping people to die well, health reporter Mike Houlahan discovers.

Dunedin's new hospital will create a vibrant health precinct for the city, the dean of the University of Otago medical school says.

There have already been 19 reports written in the planning process for the new Dunedin Hospital: you can expect many more before the building opens in 2026.

Moana House programme director Claire Aitken has a heartfelt plea to the inquiry into mental health and addiction - make her life easier.

The outlines of a 90-year-old feature of the Larnach Castle garden emerged from the  undergrowth yesterday in a dig organised as part of Archaeology Week.