Eileen Goodwin

Patients affected by the junior doctors strike next week are being contacted to let them know, the Southern District Health Board says.

New Environment Southland councillor Eric Roy — a former National MP — says the region needs to diversify its land use to improve water quality.

Tim Shadbolt has beaten a "television producer and an investigative journalist" in what he says was his toughest race yet for the Invercargill mayoralty.

The "fantastic" response to a leak that brought surgery to a halt last weekend is an example of the team work keeping Dunedin Hospital going in its current state.

The University of Otago music department will be "butchered" under a proposal presented to staff this week, a shocked staff member says.

Elective surgery and outpatient clinics in Dunedin and Invercargill will be affected by the junior doctors' strike, the Southern District Health Board has confirmed.

Acute surgery cases at Dunedin Hospital were suspended on Sunday after a steam leak caused a tile to fall into a sterile storage room.

Junior doctors have voted to go on strike nationally later this month for 48 hours.

A Dunedin GP says he is being forced to join a shared medical records system which gives the Southern District Health Board  a "blank cheque" to take more patient information.

Contingency plans for a junior doctors’ strike are "well advanced" in the country’s district health boards

Chris Fleming says he is not at the Southern District Health Board to be its ''caretaker'' chief executive, and might even take the permanent role if it is offered.

An Allanton mother whose daughter's birth was botched says midwives need to work in teams with obstetricians, and that must be the lesson from research that has shaken the maternity sector this week.

Grey Power members from ''Oamaru down to Bluff'' are worried about Dunedin Hospital's future, the Southern District Health Board has been told.

Babies born under midwife-led care have suffered more incidents of damage than those whose mothers were looked after by doctors, according to new research.

Thousands  of health practitioners - and more than 100 medical students - will have controlled access to the shared medical records of southern patients from today.

Junior  doctors are "calling for'' strike action, and a ballot will be held this week, the New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association says.