Advice cost health board $486,000
Advice cost health board $486,000
The financially failed Southern District Health Board spent more than $486,800 on a consultancy firm it contracted to give ''expert advice'' on its plight.
Eileen Goodwin
Need for community to embrace 'this wee theatre'
Need for community to embrace 'this wee theatre'
The stage of the Fire Station Community Theatre is being transformed.
Call to use different bowel cancer test
Call to use different bowel cancer test
A bowel cancer screening authority is urging a rethink of the method used to detect the deadly disease when a nationwide screening programme is introduced.
Ombudsman investigating DHB complaints
Ombudsman investigating DHB complaints
The Office of the Ombudsman is considering three complaints about official reluctance to release information about the Southern District Health Board's plight.
Recruitment process for CMO queried by doctors
Recruitment process for CMO queried by doctors
Southern District Health Board doctors are unhappy about the recruitment process for a new chief medical officer, and many believe the process has been ''constructed'' to ensure a particular outcome.
Compliance costs force home closure
Compliance costs force home closure
''Huge'' compliance costs are a factor in the decision to close Maranatha Rest Home, Maranatha board member Richard Horne says.
Breakaway PHO proposal stirs controversy
Breakaway PHO proposal stirs controversy
A second Primary Health Organisation in the South would waste resources through duplicating expensive management structures, Mornington Health Centre says.
Staff treatment 'absolutely terrible', union says
Staff treatment 'absolutely terrible', union says
Issues raised by unhappy residential care staff at Rendell on Reed rest-home in Oamaru are being worked through, facility director Paul Renwick says.
Aged care pay claim under way
Aged care pay claim under way
Sector leaders are tight-lipped about negotiations under way in Wellington to settle a historic pay claim in the aged care sector.
Big rise in free GP visits
Big rise in free GP visits
Uptake of free GP appointments for children under 13 is ''exponentially'' high, and practices will be forced to reinstate charges if funding runs out, the Mornington Health Centre says.
Nebuliser user support seen as post code lottery
Nebuliser user support seen as post code lottery
Rachael Cox has to spend 40 minutes of every day on a nebuliser. Her father, Cystic Fibrosis Otago president Julian Cox, of Dunedin, said that was less than many cystic fibrosis patients, some of whom spend up to three hours a day on a nebuliser.
Hospital food 'chaos' in Auckland
Hospital food 'chaos' in Auckland
Staff and food problems are causing ''chaos'' at hospitals in Auckland where a new hospital food contract started last month, the Service and Food Workers' Union says.
DHBs given less opt-out control
DHBs given less opt-out control
District health boards have less ability to withdraw from unpopular savings programmes, such as the hospital food outsourcing not yet adopted by many boards, under the new organisation set up to cut costs, a Cabinet paper released under the Official Information Act shows.
Hepatitis C elimination possible with new drugs
Hepatitis C elimination possible with new drugs
Eliminating hepatitis C from New Zealand could be possible if access can be secured to emerging drugs, Associate Prof Catherine Stedman says.
Cutting through the spin
Cutting through the spin
When pub politics show Back Benches started, its producers at times had to wrench prepared talking points away from MPs.
SDHB withholds report by financial consultant
SDHB withholds report by financial consultant
The Southern District Health Board will not release reports written by an Auckland-based consulting firm it hired when it hit serious financial trouble this year.
SDHB role an 'experiment'
SDHB role an 'experiment'
The Southern District Health Board commissioner will still be figuring out who she can trust and what her role entails, University of Otago health systems authority Prof Robin Gauld says.
Intensive care unit lifeline
Intensive care unit lifeline
A proposal to upgrade Dunedin Hospital's intensive care unit may be considered by the Ministry of Health's capital investment committee next month.
Commissioner brings work ethic, cautious approach
Commissioner brings work ethic, cautious approach
Kathy Grant has stepped into the health arena to steer the financially troubled Southern District Health Board into a better position after its board was sacked because of the deficit. She spoke to health reporter Eileen Goodwin.
Defining deficit not easy: Grant
Defining deficit not easy: Grant
Pinning down the exact amount of Southern District Health Board's projected deficit - which could be as high as $42 million - is proving to be difficult because of a lack of resources in the organisation, commissioner Kathy Grant says.