More likely topics are the weather or the Otago Stadium and while the group might reach consensus on the former, there are a range of opinions on the latter.
The fact that all five, whose ages range from 71 to 93, have a background in health services is something they have gradually found out about each other. Often they find they have acquaintances in common through their former careers.
There was no plan to seek residents for the house from the health sector and as former nurse Margaret Malcolm (89) says, they do not "waste much time" talking about health matters.
When the Otago Daily Times called for morning tea, however, it did not take too long to get them talking about how things had changed since their days in the health system.
All appeared to agree that health care had become more technology-based, with far more complicated interventions performed and a huge increase in the number of medicines available.
As former nurse Gordon Elliot (79), who is about to move in to the house, put it, nowadays everybody expected interventions to be available to them, but the country could not afford every type of expensive surgery. This was not unique to New Zealand.
Fionna Ogilvy (71) is originally from Glasgow and worked as a nurse there before coming to New Zealand, spending 25 years part-time preparing blood for testing at Dunedin Hospital. She noted United States President Barack Obama had approved stem-cell research, something which could hold much promise for people suffering from chronic illnesses.
It would, however, need to be well controlled, she said.
Former associate professor of pediatrics and child health and neo-natal pediatrician Donald Malcolm, who resigned in 1974, said when he was practising it was considered that 28 weeks was the critical gestation point to reach for a baby to survive. Not many babies born earlier would survive.
The reticent Dr Malcolm is renowned for his work building up the world-class special-care baby unit at Queen Mary Hospital.
Former psychiatric nurse Win Carey (92) worked at Seacliff Hospital in the 1930s, married and had a family and then returned to the work for another eight years (including some time at Wakari Hospital).
The availability of medication from around 1945 onwards made an enormous difference to the job, Mrs Carey said.
When she first started there was little medication, which made the work difficult, although it was very satisfying when people responded to care.
There was less acceptance of people with mental health problems then, but "it can happen to anyone".
It concerned her that nowadays there were "lots of people walking around the streets who could do with treatment and help".
The former nurses were not convinced the mix between the academic and practical training of modern nurses was quite right yet, but Mr Elliot acknowledged that increases in technology used by nurses had made it necessary for more theoretical training.
Mrs Ogilvy said the majority of nurses were still very caring, while a few were prepared to challenge doctors - "it's seemingly allowed".
Mr Elliot, who retired 19 years ago, faced challenges when training. It was rare for men to become nurses and they were only trained at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch or Silverstream in Wellington.
There was some discrimination against male nurses as it was considered a woman's job and as a result he was assigned to theatre nursing.
"I might have been accepted better there than in wards."
Fortunately, it was a job he came to love and he worked in several places, including England, Los Angeles and Christchurch before returning to Dunedin, where he went on to become the supervisor, or what would be now called nurse manager, of Dunedin Hospital theatres.
He laughed at the recollection that in the late 1960s, when he was required to attend training in Wellington to complete a diploma, it had to be delayed for a year because there was no male toilet on the premises.
While the residents seemed to have similar views on aspects of health, their views on the stadium were varied.
The Malcolms did not want the stadium, both considering the money could be better spent on other things, particularly on alleviating poverty in Dunedin, which Mrs Malcolm described as "quite alarming".
Mr Elliot was in favour of the stadium, pointing out money not spent on it would not necessarily go to worthy projects.
Mrs Ogilvy accepted it was likely to go ahead but did not want a hike in rates.
Mrs Carey said she had not quite decided on the matter - "there's always that much about it in the paper".
• Abbeyfield houses are not flats, strictly speaking, but houses designed to provide those who no longer wish to live in their own homes with safety, personal freedom and companionship.
All residents have separate accommodation units, but there are communal living areas and residents meet for meals (apart from breakfast), which are provided in the Balmacewen house by live-in housekeeper Robyn Thomson.
