Stories by Karen Brown

A district health board in one of the country's poorest areas is determined to retain the funding it needs in the face of serious problems with the latest census.

A new study by a Palmerston North GP has found a staggering 97 percent of babies and parents did well after a tongue-tie procedure which is sometimes thought of as dangerous.

Public health experts say it's high time that politicians realised the dangers posed by alcohol and did much more to curb its use.

Doctors at Capital and Coast District Health Board failed to order a brain scan for a woman with a brain tumour, insisting instead on a psychological assessment.

An external review of the Hutt District Health Board in Wellington says midwifery staffing levels should be increased significantly.

The daughter of an elderly woman, who died while in the care of the Waitematā District Health Board four years ago, says her mother's death was violent and traumatic.

It means just two of the country's 20 district health boards may have ended the financial year in the black.

Opportunities to "rescue" an elderly woman with Crohn's disease before she died were not acted on, according to findings from the health watchdog today.

The commissioner in charge at the embattled Waikato District Health Board says they intend to cut the deficit while also improving services.

Extra stocks of this year's flu vaccine are now available around the country for those who missed out the first time around.

The money will help DHBs cover the cost of major new building projects.

A Crown monitor has been appointed to support the Canterbury DHB - which is forecasting a deficit of more than $100 million.

The opposition is blaming the latest financial results for DHBs, which forecast a year-end deficit of $390 million, on a lack of leadership by the government.

Strikes by junior doctors this year have cost district health boards more than $19 million and there's no end in sight.

Boosting struggling mental health and addiction services dominates the government's health Budget initiatives this year.

Community-based mental health care saved young mum Sally's life, but the majority of women don't get that kind of help.

People under 60 who are worried they may have bowel cancer are being offered a new screening service by a group of medical specialists.

Ambulance services say a $21 million funding boost will help keep stretched services running while longer-term solutions are found.

Twelve hundred New Zealanders die from bowel cancer a year - and it's increasing in people under the age of 50.

A long shortage of the common painkiller paracetamol - New Zealand's most dispensed medicine at a rate of about one million tablets a day - is coming to an end.

Junior doctors are accusing district health boards of going "nuclear" in their long employment row.

Family doctors and others are urging those who have not yet had the annual flu jab to get it as soon as possible.

New Zealanders with dementia want more respect, including from family doctors, and much more support generally.

Striking junior doctors say they hope an upcoming five-day strike will help finally settle their row with district health boards. Audio

The hospital in South Auckland says it's committed to helping staff in its busy emergency department to manage rising violence and aggression.