Eileen Goodwin

Two former synthetic cannabis users and an addict have come forward to share their experiences as a warning, while a Salvation Army bridge programme admissions co-ordinator says some people are using K2 to break their cannabis addiction.

The late A.H. Reed came back to life briefly yesterday, welcoming a heritage tour into the building in which his publishing business was once located. An actor playing the publisher popped up as a surprise tour guide for a heritage reuse tour led by developer Lawrie Forbes.

Wars are glorified and imbued with myths to justify continued participation in them, Prof Richard Jackson told a forum on war remembrance at the University of Otago yesterday.

Health Minister Tony Ryall made a ''huge song and dance'' in the last Budget about improving cancer care, but fewer than half of the new cancer nurse co-ordinators have been recruited nearly a year after they were announced, Labour health spokeswoman Annette King says.

The Southern District Health Board plans to hold a forum to highlight problems synthetic cannabis is causing for its mental health service.

A proposed hospital outsourcing plan would see 65% of patient meals prepared locally, Health Minister Tony Ryall says.

Hiring a ''change manager'' and two ''organisational development advisers'' on fixed terms for its human resources department is likely to engender a sense of uncertainty at the Southern District Health Board, the head of the senior doctors' union says.

Some pupils are missing big chunks of schooling and jeopardising their future prospects, because of lack of knowledge about the Southern Regional Health School among doctors and the general public, the school's liaison manager Angela Botherway says.

District health boards that invested in hospital kitchens in recent years might have to take a ''hit'' for the greater good, as moves are made to outsource meals to a single private provider, Southern District Health Board deputy chairman Paul Menzies says.

Dunedin Hospital's kitchen could be significantly downgraded if the Government decides to outsource the hospital food service to a single provider.

Southern District Health Board managers face job losses as the board gears up for the next round of restructuring, senior doctors' union representative Dr John Chambers says.