Traces of the rat poison, Brodifacoum, have been found in two little blue penguins that died in the Hauraki Gulf.

Auckland District Health Board and the Coroner are investigating the death of a 68-year-old woman's hospital death which has left her family mystified.

The head of the Department of Conservation said rat poison drops on two Hauraki Gulf islands should be delayed over public concerns.

Five of the pathologists listed on Labtests' website are not fully registered to practise medicine in NZ.

Labtests has been told it is not meeting the requirements of its $190,000-a-day contract and needs to "lift its act" quickly.

New managers and doctors have moved into top roles at Labtests in a bid to control the failures that have plagued its first five weeks.

Six senior health officials will intervene at Labtests today on the instructions of Auckland's DHB heads, who have demanded the service fix its problems.

A woman's Labtests results diagnose her as having prostate problems - a gland only in men.

Auckland's controversial new community laboratory service poses "a real risk" to public safety, NZ's top health watchdog says.