Stories by Rowan Quinn

For many, returning to their trashed homes is not an option and they were wondering - where to next?

Shocked and exhausted people are continuing to arrive at Auckland evacuation centres as reality sinks in.

The number of people overdue for elective surgery has grown by thousands.

The planned care taskforce asked hospitals to give patients waiting longer than 12 months a surgical booking by August, but more than 3000 don't yet have one. Audio

Covid-19 vaccination rates have plateaued since September, with about 64,000 given out each month at the moment.

A possible peak in the number of people in hospital could be driven by older people getting the virus for the first time. Audio

Doctors, nurses and midwives from around the world are jumping at the chance to apply for straight-to-residence work visas.

Only 43 percent of people over 50 have had a second booster, despite being most at risk from the virus.

Daily Covid-19 numbers are the highest they have been for four and a half months, at 8428.

Specialists have described an appointment with the parents of a baby that was hijacked by one of their support people spouting conspiracy theories.

Daily Covid-19 cases have topped 7000 for the first time since July as the current wave keeps growing.

All sides in a dispute over a four-month-old baby who needs heart surgery have met since their court hearing, but have not been able to resolve the situation.

Health bosses are worried patients will not turn up to emergency departments when they need to, as long waits and overcrowding continues.

New Zealand GPs are the most burnt out in a survey of doctors from 10 similar countries.

Wellington Hospital management have emailed ED nurses alleging the cards breached Andrew Little's privacy, while the Nurses Organisation says it will protect any nurse disciplined.

The woman took her ill teenage daughter to Wellington Hospital's emergency department as an infection spiralled out of control and found herself 53rd in the queue, with tired staff struggling to cope… Audio

Patients sometimes have to go to the toilet behind a portable screen in a room with 10 other people as they wait for care at North Shore Hospital.

There were 4282 daily Covid-19 cases reported today, breaking a plateau that has lasted about three weeks.

The nurses union is investigating after a woman taken to North Shore Hospital by ambulance was punched in the face and knocked to the ground by another patient.

The country's Covid-19 situation is like a big bowl of spaghetti, with a plateau in cases not necessarily telling the whole story, a leading modeller says.

Monkeypox is now being tested for in wastewater, as part of a new trial by ESR.

Mental health patients are sometimes stranded for days in North Shore Hospital's emergency department waiting for a bed on a ward.

Dunedin Hospital has been at 108 percent capacity this week, one of several around the country still slammed by high demand.

Te Whatu Ora has considered moving nurses around the country to help with extreme demand in emergency departments but decided it might increase the risk of harm.

A taskforce has delivered 101 recommendations to cut surgical wait times - but no targets for when they will be achieved.