Fiona Ellis

The University of Otago is in a "downward spiral", acting vice-chancellor Prof Helen Nicholson told an all-staff forum yesterday.

Bed numbers have been slashed and further cuts loom for a Dunedin acute mental health ward which has only half the nurses needed to operate at full capacity.

The contentious redesign of the new Dunedin hospital inpatient building is not set to be completed until September next year, and questions about the building’s floor area remain unanswered.

Employees are walking away from University of Otago in increasing numbers, a trend staff predict will continue because of lower morale, lower pay and lower employment certainty.

The Government’s continued refusal to fund an increase in medical student numbers — the easiest step to fix the workforce shortage — is disappointing, the University of Otago says.

Dunedin Hospital is celebrating the right after a break of nearly a decade to again teach trainees in its intensive care unit.

A researcher behind the study showing the benefits of scrapping $5 medical prescription fees has defended the Government’s move against criticism it is an untargeted "lolly scramble".

People will no longer have to make the dismal choice between spending their money on medication or on food, a Dunedin pharmacist says.

 The funding boost for universities contained in Budget 2023 is "small slivers" of good news, but the University of Otago says it will make little difference to its financial woes.

More than 200 car parks have been cut from the new Dunedin hospital, while separate plans for a multi-storey parking building appear to have stagnated.