Mike Houlahan

The number 39 has significance for the Gilchrist family; father Alastair was that old when he received a heart transplant, and daughter Anna was the same age when her organs changed many lives.

The Govt's impending reform of vocational education needed to support the Otago Polytechnic brand and allow for regional flexibility, Dunedin North MP David Clark has told the Otago Chamber of Commerce.

More help may be on the way for Dunedin Hospital's hard-pressed sole neurosurgeon, as the University of Otago and Southern DHB negotiate with a potential candidate.

Hundreds of sympathy messages have come in since the death of Dunedin woman Toni Adie-Kinraid, showing her bowel cancer awareness campaign got its message across, her family says.

The family of a Balclutha mother of two who died in Christchurch Hospital after being transferred from Dunedin for neurosurgery treatment is calling on the SDHB to urgently address a shortage of surgeons.