Eileen Goodwin

A "hidden waiting list" of elective surgery patients is three times as long in the South as the national average, Prof Jean-Claude Theis said in his inaugural professorial lecture last night.

Multidisciplinary meetings (MDM) of clinicians discussing breast cancer cases in Dunedin were "under considerable time pressure", and dealt with too many cases per session, a report into an unnecessary mastectomy says.

Mercy Hospital, in Dunedin, is the first private hospital in New Zealand to start reporting its mistakes to the Government's Health Quality and Safety Commission (HQSC), chief executive Richard Whitney says.

Returning to the continent where his father was shot by rebels in the mid-1960s was a "personal journey" for Dunedin paediatrician Prof Barry Taylor.

Hit by a "massive" heart attack at the age of just 37, Dunedin woman June Gold was told her life had changed for good and there were some things she would never do again.

PGG Wrightson is restructuring part of its Dunedin operation, but the company will not say how many jobs are on the line.

Diabetes Otago faces an uncertain future at its Frederick St base, in Dunedin, as it works through the conditions of a "divorce" from the Heart Foundation.

Dunedin's tourism sector coped well with the biggest cruise ship to visit New Zealand, when Voyager of the Seas docked at Port Chalmers on Saturday.

A community board member has criticised the "pathetic" response to a flash flood in Mosgiel that caused thousands of dollars in damage to shops on Saturday afternoon.

Losing 90 jobs at Hillside Engineering is a catastrophic outcome for South Dunedin, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull says.

The Government is more interested in Prince Charles' visit than in finding ways to combat the "major epidemic" of diabetes, nutrition and diabetes expert Prof Jim Mann says.

Mercy Hospital's bid for its own special zone in the district plan is a test case for other Dunedin facilities, the private health provider's chief executive, Richard Whitney, told the Dunedin City Council's hearings committee yesterday.

Heather Maxwell (82) holds a copy of her 1980 book Balclutha to Molyneux Bay, which is to be reprinted as a fundraiser for the southern neurosurgery campaign.

A ball at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin tonight will celebrate 20 years since Cherry Farm Hospital closed, releasing its intellectually disabled residents to the community.