A mother has told of the moment she saw her 8-year-old son lying under his motorbike with a large branch sticking out of his thigh.

More than half the number of whooping cough cases in Western Bay of Plenty have involved adults who have unwittingly helped spread the disease to epidemic proportions.

Tauranga's longest serving paramedic has decided to call it a day after a 48-year association with St John.

Sergeant Wayne Hunter has issued a missing person's notice at Tauranga Hospital for an unlikely character - a toy monkey named Dr Fitz.

A new, highly infectious strain of the norovirus stomach bug that has hit New Zealand has been linked to a death in Northland.

A new and deadly strain was behind most of the norovirus illnesses that affected dozens of people throughout New Zealand late last year.

Kiwis are being urged to take health precautions to prevent infection from a deadly strain of norovirus, which has already reached New Zealand.

Experts are calling for action to ease the burden on New Zealand's overloaded network of premature baby units.

Editorial: Any health service must seek to provide the maximum gain for the community from the resources available to it.

A policy said to have saved hundreds of lives in New Zealand's hospitals was sidelined at Auckland City Hospital to save money, says Dr Tim Parke, the departing chief of the emergency department.

Pilots who transport sick children to vital medical appointments are proof angels do exist, and the search is on to find some in Tauranga.

Auckland Hospital staff have been called to disciplinary hearings in the breach-of-privacy case involving the man who had an eel removed from inside him.

Birth that affected baby's development one of 360 serious events in last year.

Hospital doctors may stop charging for cremation certificates after a newspaper investigation revealed the money is being spent on social events and Sky TV.

The 2009 swine flu pandemic cost New Zealand hospitals about $31 million, a new university study shows.

Intensive checking for influenza at two hospitals has shown that the number of infected patients is around one-third greater than was previously thought.

The number of patients admitted to hospital with influenza is higher than previously thought, an important New Zealand study on the disease has found.