Concern over the proposed outsourcing of hospital kitchens dominated the first 30 minutes of a Southern District Health Board public meeting in Dunedin last night.
Sending southern cardiac MRI patients to private hospitals is ''financially wasteful'' and shows the need to address the country's specialist shortage, the senior doctors' union says.
The Southern District Health Board is facing ''extreme financial difficulties'', meaning tough decisions have to be taken, departing chairman Joe Butterfield says.
Up to $50 million will be needed to keep the clinical services building at Dunedin Hospital going for another 10 years, according to an assessment by the Beca consultancy group.
The Southern District Health Board is considering sending cardiac MRI test patients to private hospitals, as it is about to lose the second of two specially trained cardiologists.
Dunedin Hospital is the country's sole public provider of a specialist radiation therapy and an upgrade means the service will be secured here.
A proposal to truck frozen meals on wheels from Auckland to Dunedin and Invercargill has sparked outrage in the South.
Meals on wheels will be made in Auckland and trucked to Dunedin and Invercargill under a proposal to outsource hospital food services, the Compass Group confirmed yesterday.
Southern District Health Board staff reporting concerns about patient safety should find it easier once a new electronic risk management system is introduced this month.
The public will soon be better informed when things go seriously wrong at the South's hospitals, Elspeth McLean writes.
A Southern District Health Board patient who fell from an operating table after a hip operation did not require further surgery, information released on the 2012-13 incident shows.
Southern District Health Board staff have been reminded to take more care after the details of 60 surgical patients were mistakenly emailed to someone.
A big drop in the number of southern patients asked about smoking by their GP is being investigated, WellSouth Primary Health Network says.
The financially troubled Southern District Health Board is putting the squeeze on contracted providers to reduce costs.
The Southern District Health Board should have been more upfront with the public about the cost of privatising the hospital kitchens, board member Richard Thomson says.
Privatising southern hospital kitchens will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before any ''savings'' can be realised, a new document reveals.
The Southern District Health Board has moved swiftly to allay fears of a downgrade of Dunedin Hospital after more than 10,000 people joined a social media campaign in just over three days.
Information to back a claim of a significant cost saving from the planned privatisation of southern hospital kitchens will be released next week.
Audit New Zealand has strong recommendations for the SDHB, Dunedin writer and former ODT health reporter Elspeth McLean documents them.
The Southern District Health Board's lack of up-to-date disaster recovery plans for its computer systems is exposing it to significant risk, Audit New Zealand says.
