Shifting some treatments traditionally performed in hospital to a community setting is an exciting move with benefits for both patients and doctors, Otago District Health Board GP liaison officer Dr Anne Worsnop says.
Have you answered the call to serve on a jury? Most of us - 61% last year - find an excuse to get out of this important public duty.Should jury trials - the ancient practice of being judged by one's peers - continue? Elspeth McLean reports.
Excuses, excuses. The right to trial by one's peers is a long-standing feature of our justice system and is seen as an essential part of our democratic society. But why are New Zealanders so reluctant to serve on a jury? Elspeth McLean examines the numbers.
If the Otago and Southland District Health Boards do not take a proactive approach to the set-up of primary health organisations, they risk chaos and the evolution of a "three-hump camel", the boards' chief executive, Brian Rousseau, says.
Today's first joint special meeting of Otago and Southland District Health Boards in Invercargill, which will discuss the contentious super-primary health organisation (PHO) proposal, promises to be a lively affair.
Beating the employment blues in the recession is about having options and inspiration when the cheques bounce.
Otago and Southland district health boards are being asked to make radical changes to primary health organisations without information on the costs and benefits, Mornington PHO chief executive Barbara Bridger says.
A national programme encouraging the elderly to safely dispose of millions of dollars of unwanted medicines is being run in 14 areas, including Otago.
Dunedin Hospital has been organising extra clinics to cope with a higher-than-usual number of people waiting months for general surgery assessments, but is becoming frustrated with people not attending their appointments.
A controversial proposal that all nine Otago and Southland primary health organisations be replaced with one body is expected to be the recommendation going to the two district health boards next week.
Interactions between the Otago District Health Board and other health services should focus on solutions "rather than brawling with each other", board chairman Errol Millar says.
Health workers wage increases in the 2010-11 financial year will have to be held at about 1% if district health boards are to have any hope of living within their means, Richard Thomson says.
Concern at tension in the relationship between the Otago District Health Board and rural hospitals was expressed at the health board's meeting, with a call for greater cohesion between all Otago hospitals.
The Otago District Health Board is likely to have finished last financial year within its planned $9.3 million deficit, contrary to forecasts which suggested the shortfall could blow out to almost $13 million.
Spending on personal care for elderly people living in their own homes increased on average by $98 a day over 11 months, while rest-home care costs dropped by $762 daily, the Otago District Health Board will be told today.
A fresh direction for delivering mental health services in Otago and Southland has been called for by Pact director of operations Donald Shand
Information is still being gathered for a report which will suggest how future hospital services might be provided in Otago and Southland over the next 20 years.
The transfer of high-profile Dunedin cases to the High Court at Christchurch has been questioned by University of Otago dean of law Prof Mark Henaghan.
Concern about swine flu may have increased interest in University of Otago research which is looking at the impact of improved hand hygiene on winter school absences.
A steady stream of enrolments has been coming in to the office of the Dunedin South registrar of electors Dee Vickers as voters ensure they meet today's enrolment deadline for the forthcoming postal referendum.
