Mike Houlahan

The chairman of the Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, Ron Paterson, has set high expectations of what he and his team can achieve, and now he is trying to deliver.

Plans are well advanced for a specialist respite care facility for sick Otago children and backers of the proposal seek operational funding to make the idea a reality.

At 20% of Government expenditure, health is always a big part of the Budget menu. Yesterday, with the biggest capital injection in health for a decade, it was the main course.

Keeping the old Dunedin Hospital functioning until the new one is built has probably become a great deal easier for the Southern DHB as the cash-strapped organisation gets a cash injection as part of the Budget's health-funding booster.

The cash-strapped SDHB is to get a cash injection as part of the Budget's health funding booster.