A promised Government crackdown on the main ingredient in the drug P is likely to be at least a year away.

Just hours after surgery, 6-year-old Tabitha Monk rushed to put on her Sunday best for a chat with Santa from his North Pole grotto.

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"

Eight families who say they need help to look after their disabled children have been left waiting almost a year for a decision by the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

Hospital falls caused more than a quarter of the major "adverse events" listed by DHBs in their latest report on potentially preventable healthcare harm.

Nearly 100 patients died after "serious" incidents in public hospitals during the year to June 30, according to a report out today.

Drinking water flowing to almost one in six New Zealanders either failed to reach health standards or escaped testing during 2007/08.