Eileen Goodwin

Concern health heads are ''robbing Nurse Betty to pay Dr Ropata'' by skimping on nurse budgets has been raised by a Southern District Health Board member.

The nurses' union will take a ''strategic approach'' to releasing information about conditions in Dunedin and Wakari hospitals in its attempts to persuade the health board to hire more staff.

The chairmen of two southern health entities locked in a multimillion-dollar dispute are talking in a fresh attempt to resolve the wrangle.

The nurses' union is disappointed the Southern District Health Board's answer to fears Dunedin is in the midst of a nursing staffing crisis is to set up a working party, rather than hire more nurses.

The Southern District Health Board said last night it was confident its nursing numbers in Dunedin were adequate.

Keep Dunedin Beautiful award winners (from left) Portobello Community Inc deputy chairman Geoff Sheridan and chairman Paul Pope (holding the Taylor Community Pride Shield) and Brockville Community Development Project ecological sustainability team co-ordinator Sue Morey (holding the Pod Award) show off their awards after the annual beautification awards.

Dunedin nurses will hold a stop-work meeting next week to put clinical safety concerns to senior health board managers.

The Southern District Health Board was told in 2010 its multimillion-dollar dispute with South Link Health (SLH) might be fraud, but the dispute was not referred to police, board chairman Joe Butterfield has revealed.

Two Oil Free Otago flotilla yachts came ''face to face'' with Anadarko's drill ship last night and delivered a protest message, Oil Free Otago said in a statement last night.

Who knew what and when? Questions are being asked since it was revealed recently the Southern District Health Board has known about the possibility of a health funds fraud for more than three years. Health reporter Eileen Goodwin examines the issues.

Former Southern District Health Board chief executive Brian Rousseau has spoken out about the South Link Health (SLH) dispute, providing a list of people he says knew about legal advice the row could involve fraud.

Dunedin Urgent Doctors and Accident Centre will have shorter hours from next week. It will close 90 minutes earlier from Monday, with new opening hours of 8am-10pm.

''Years of uncertainty'' for Dunedin's Ashburn Clinic ended this week with a $1.1 million annual funding increase from the Government.

Dunedin Hospital's new neonatal intensive care unit and children's ward is ''world-class'', providing reassurance for parents, and an excellent training facility for young specialists, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday, at the official opening of the $7 million unit.