Southern DHB (SDHB) Neurology is a district wide service primarily delivered from Dunedin Hospital. Neuroscience nurse specialists also form part of the team providing advice and support to patients who have chronic conditions.
Southland Hospital provides outpatient neurology services. The neurologist has weekly clinics to see new neurology patients and to follow up with existing neurology patients.
Outreach clinics have been commenced at the rural hospitals on a regular basis.
What is Neurology?
Neurology is the study of the Nervous System (brain, spinal cord and nerves), how it controls various parts of the body and the diseases and disorders that may affect it.
The brain coordinates how we think and what we do physically as well as controlling how the body manages itself. It sends messages to, and receives information from, the rest of the body via a complex system of nerves which use chemicals and electricity to send information.
The Nervous System can be divided into the
- voluntary nervous system which controls what we choose to do and the
- involuntary or autonomic nervous system that controls automatic functions that we don’t have to think about.
A medical specialist in this field is a neurologist. A neurosurgeon is a surgeon who operates on parts of the nervous system. The two specialists often work together, depending on the problem.