The Government's message to melanoma petitioners at Parliament today is to wait for the Budget when Pharmac will almost certainly get an increase in its funding.

Documents released to the Labour Party showed the funding gap at these DHBs ranged between $500,000 and nearly $2 million.

Covering for the local doctor while they are away on holiday can be big shoes to fill - especially if you are a nurse.

To demand "savings" from the country's district health boards is good economics but brave politics.

New Zealand fathers-to-be are nearly twice as likely as their pregnant partners to be undecided about immunisation before their child is born.

Just over two years ago, 47-year-old Teresa Burt was lying in Middlemore Hospital on life support, her family fearing she would never wake up.

Education consultant Jayne-Ann Young has dedicated more than half her life to making the lives of young people better.

The 54-year-old is one of about 4000 Kiwis living with a form of MS - a disorder of the central nervous system that affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

An adverse event is an incident that caused serious harm or death, or could have done so.

A stolen handbag containing names of hundreds of patients who had undergone a sensitive medical procedure was one of a record number of data breaches reported in the past year.

Cardiac arrest patients cared for by New Zealand's largest ambulance provider have a markedly lower chance of surviving than those under the service covering Wellington and the Wairarapa.

They consider Canberra home but this New Zealand family are struggling to make ends meet after having support for their autistic son withdrawn.

Orion Health Group first-half loss was expected, as a weaker kiwi dollar and recurring revenue in North America lifted sales by 26 percent.

Nutrition experts say Labour's policy to reduce sugar in foods is a good move, but a sugar tax on fizzy drinks is an essential step.

Anaesthetists say the levels of stress they face in their job are comparable to the pressures felt by soldiers and Olympic athletes.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's sales could be nudging the $2 billion mark within a decade if the company's bullish growth projections become a reality.

A real-life Robin Hood, who saves lives in the world's poorest countries, has been disciplined for practising without a certificate.

A midwife's competence has been questioned after she failed to arrange urine testing for a woman who was later diagnosed with a life-threatening condition that necessitated an emergency caesarean birth.

An elderly woman with dementia was given four times her proper dose of antipsychotic medication for nine days before anyone noticed the error.

Three provincial North Island hospitals have unexpectedly high death rates, according to data released to the Herald after a two-year wait.

A drug brought to light by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC could help restore memory in Alzheimer's patients, scientists hope.

A young woman was badly burned and feared she may never have children after a horrifying medical blunder - and then offered a $50 fuel voucher by way of apology.

An Auckland teen living with the side-effects of a brain tumour has been chosen as the face of hope by a cancer charity.

What linguists call prosody describes the variations in timing, pitch and stress patterns in speech that help people convey meaning and emotion.

New World has donated a number of the full sets, complete with mini ovens and barbecue grills, for young patients to try their hand at "cooking".

Staff working for companies producing artificial hips, pacemakers and other medical devices are being allowed into surgeries at hospitals without the consent of patients.

An editorial in the Herald states that the value of the screening pilot needs proving and that the pilot "is not going as well as expected".