Workers at Summit Wool Spinners in Oamaru were advised late yesterday afternoon about the number of job losses at the plant - but neither the union nor the company was talking.
The pay gap between public and private aged care workers is evidence of the "fundamental failure of capitalism", Service and Food Workers' Union strategic industrial leader Alastair Duncan says.
The Southern District Health Board is to consult the public on a diabetes strategy that will guide health services for diatics for the next decade.
Those just released from prison face a mortality rate 100 times that of the general population in the first two weeks after release.
The Southern District Health Board will be grilled by Parliament's Health Select Committee tomorrow morning about financial matters.
Peter Hughes
A section of the West Harbour cycleway-walkway will be closed for a day while Dunedin City Council contractors undertake sea protection work.
The Magnet St to Ravensbourne section would close on Monday from 9am until about 4pm, Dunedin City Council senior contracts supervisor Peter Hughes said.
If they have any symptoms, Dunedin Hospital metal-on-metal hip implant recipients are being checked for ill effects even if their implant has not been recalled, a surgeon's report to Otago GPs says.
Southern District Health Board staff not taking as much annual leave as expected is contributing to the end-of-year deficit, with fears it could get worse.
Tuatapere Maternity remains open for births, but an offer of a six-month funding reprieve from the Southern District Health Board has been declined as insufficient, Waiau Health Trust chairman Justin Lewis says.
It is "almost a dereliction of duty" for Southern District Health Board members not be be provided with adequate reports on DHB services, hospitals' advisory committee (HAC) member Richard Thomson says.
A Southern District Health Board committee approved a three-year mental health and addiction plan yesterday, amid apprehension of tightening funds for mental health.
Treating up to 70 Hyde St party-goers at Dunedin Hospital's emergency department (ED) contributed to a poorer result for the six-hour target for March.
The Southern Primary Health Organisation has approved a $300,000 initiative supporting free primary healthcare measures for "high needs" patients, chief executive Ian Macara said.
Savings in the Southern District Health Board's "funder arm" are helping the DHB carry a budget overrun in services it operates directly, a report to tomorrow's meeting in Invercargill shows.
For the third month running, doctors' wages were well over budget in March, a report to Southern District Health Board's hospitals' advisory committee shows.
A Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane diverted to Christchurch when it could not land at Dunedin International Airport yesterday because of strong winds, airport fire officer Stu Casey said.
Rather than nurses losing their jobs at Wakari Hospital's specialist rehabilitation service (Isis), their workforce will be strengthened, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Dunedin organiser Lorraine Lobb says.
A Dunedin man whose metal-on-metal hip implant was removed after an adverse reaction says the implant should be recalled.
A Ministry of Health investigation has cleared the Southern District Health Board's breast-screening programme of concerns its rate of "false negatives" was unacceptably high.
The marine rescue service has to do a "bit of detective work" after finding an empty 25-person life raft floating 49 nautical miles east of Dunedin, Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokesman Ross Henderson says.
