Plans to make it easier for NZ doctors to work wherever they like in Australia are predicted to worsen this country's medical workforce crisis.

An inquiry has been launched after a mental health worker was stabbed, kicked and had boiling water thrown over her by a patient.

Broadcaster Willie Jackson is making a last-ditch attempt to save a Mangere rest home slated for closure by the Counties Manukau DHB.

The Ministry of Health has given the clearest signal yet that the Government is likely to increase the tax on cigarettes to help slash the number of people who smoke.

The IHC is seeking Govt help over an Employment Court case that could cost it $80 million in backpay and an extra $20m a year in wages.

The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne yesterday farewelled their two star patients, Trishna and Krishna, as they left five weeks after being surgically separated.

Waikato DHB is re-starting computers in key locations after staff worked all-night battling a computer virus which crippled the organisation

Dr Suresh Vatsyayann was asked to withdraw comments made in an email and apologise to the Waikato board and management, but refused.

Waikato DHB is trying to keep as many people out of hospitals as possible while it tries to fix damage caused by the Conficka computer worm.

The suntan, fake or natural, has always caused a stir. Once a sign of poverty and vulgarity it is now the preserve of the rich and famous.

ACC board chairman John Judge today rejected an allegation he had acted politically over levy proposals.

The Govt's ACC levy increases are less than were recommended by the ACC board but still about $200 a year for an average income worker with a car.

One person is dead and four others have fallen ill in a recent spate of cases of Legionnaires' Disease, which officials blame on potting mix.

Therapists and counsellors say tight new rules for claiming ACC subsidies for sexual abuse counselling have become "a rapists' charter"