Robyn Edie/Stuff
Thornbury Vintage Tractor and Implement Club members with the Massey Ferguson 20D tractor that they will drive to and from Christchurch to raise money for the Southland Charity Hospital in early May. The members are, front Tom Parkes, behind from left, Bob Anderson, Graeme Anderson, Fraser Pearce, Win Saxton, Colin Hitchcock and Owen Anderson.
A tractor formerly used to mow grass verges in the UK has been chosen for a 48-hour fundraiser for the Southland Charity Hospital. Eight members of the Thornbury Vintage Tractor and Implement Club will take turns at driving a yellow 1983 Massey Ferguson 20D from Invercargill to Christchurch and return to generate funds for the hospital.
Instead, they put forward three other recommendations, which were all unanimously supported by the 16 councillors and mayor Lianne Dalziel. Most councillors said they only voted for the new recommendations because they just reiterated what the council was already doing.
STACY SQUIRES/STUFF
Donna Thomsen, owner of Copenhagen Bakery, is upset about a proposed new cycleway on Harewood Rd, which will mean on-street car parks outside her business are lost. The council decided to hold an additional information session in Bishopdale and staff would meet with key people along Harewood Rd to mitigate any design issues. Staff would also produce a range of design options to the two affected community boards to consider before a public hearings process in the second half of this year.
Golden Healthcare Group, which operates three rest homes on Harewood Rd with up to 134 residents in care and 48 residents in villas, was also concerned the proposal would affect residents negatively. The consultation period has already been extended by two weeks following public backlash, and will now close on March 8, but this is not enough for Keown and MacDonald. They want the entire process to start again. Keown said the cycleway needed to be far less engineered, and he wanted businesses and school kids to help design it. “The problem is for our community this is being done to them, not with them. That is the whole problem here.”
LOUISA STEYL/STUFF
Paul Cosgrove believes he could have been treated if his bowel cancer was detected earlier. He doesn t want anyone else to struggle to access a colonoscopy.
The Southern District Health Board has publicly apologised for its colonoscopy service delivery failures and committed to fixing it, but patients say they want to know how things will change. Wanaka grandfather Paul Cosgrove has made peace with the fact that he’s living on borrowed time He knows that if his bowel cancer had been detected earlier, it could have been treated. Cosgrove feels let down by the Southern District Health Board.
“The planning, clinical oversight and monitoring of the National Bowel Screening Programme (NBSP) prioritises numerous safeguards to ensure that screening does not negatively impact service provision for symptomatic patients,” a ministry spokesman said. Demand for colonoscopy appointments had been expected to increase by 20 per cent due to the programme roll-out, but had actually increased by 30 per cent. “It’s happened earlier than expected and right across the country.”
MATTHEW TSO/STUFF
Six DHBs were given the green light to roll out a national bowel cancer screening programme despite being behind with colonoscopy waiting time targets. The increased demand was driven by the country s increasing and ageing population, coupled with a greater awareness of bowel cancer, the spokesman said.