Eileen Goodwin

A recent spike in flu-like illness is keeping the University of Otago's Student Health Services busier than in the previous two flu seasons, director Dr Kim Maiai says.

It was gratifying to see the former Forbury School "reborn" as a community hub in the form of the Methodist Mission's new early learning and family services campus, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said at its opening on Saturday.

That he is to be awarded a prestigious British archaeology medal took him completely by surprise, Dunedin archaeologist Prof Charles Higham, of the University of Otago, says.

Six helicopters and 40 ground crew are still working to extinguish a large tussock blaze east of Hyde.

The Southern District Health Board's financial position has slipped yet again - its projected deficit now $15 million to $15.5 million, board members heard yesterday.

Despite acknowledging the sector's misgivings, the Southern District Health Board is going ahead with plans to cut beds from a Dunedin residential service for people with mental illness or addiction.

It is "just silly" the now-defunct Mental Health Commission spent $346,800 on a single outside contractor during 2011-12 to develop a mental health plan, Labour MP and mental health spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway says.

The Southern District Health Board is yet to appoint someone to, or externally advertise, the position of Dunedin Hospital emergency department (ED) clinical leader, despite the position having been vacant for several months.

The Southern District Health Board has released a new media policy which limits access to the executive team.

Too much Otago elective surgery is being blamed for much of the Southern District Board's burgeoning deficit.