Stories by Rowan Quinn

The sum includes about $1.8 billion to wipe out DHB deficits, while Pharmac will receive $191m over two years to fund new drugs - with a particular focus on cancer care.

Hutt Hospital is to clear one of its main buildings containing critical services because it is an earthquake risk.

Striking health workers have begun picketing around the country, saying they're fed up with being under paid and under valued.

The telethon ran on 16 October, alongside a day-long, nationwide push to get people vaccinated against Covid-19.

Senior doctors could be the next health workers to walk off the job, with their union boss writing an angry letter saying pay talks are becoming impossible.

Teens are going to get their own dedicated unit in the massive shake up of the health system so they do not fall between the cracks of adult and child health.

A union says nurses are deeply frustrated as a four-year fight for a gender pay equity agreement stalls again. Audio

Nurses' long fight for gender pay equity has taken a further hit because of a dispute over back pay - they're heading back to the Employment Relations Authority.

A 73-year-old man has been sleeping in a chair and taking constant pain medication for nine months because his hip replacement operation is overdue.

Wearing glasses or getting a runny nose is enough to qualify for a mask exemption under current Ministry of Health criteria - and a doctor says it's time for tougher rules. Audio

More than 1000 New Zealand cancer patients a year are missing out on gold-standard cancer drugs readily available in Australia. Audio

A month after the peak of Auckland's Omicron outbreak, senior doctors say adrenaline is giving way to trepidation as they call for an urgent return to business as usual.

Health workers are describing the departing Director-General of Health as having been vital in getting the country through the pandemic. Audio

A report to board members said fatigue management had previously been classed as "high" risk but had been temporarily elevated to "critical" to allow for the impact of the Omicron surge.

A patient told RNZ the lights in the emergency department were out for 15 to 20 minutes.

Canterbury is now the country's Covid-19 hotspot, with the highest rates of new infections.

Canterbury has almost three times the rate of new Covid-19 infections as Auckland, as the outbreak shifts south.

Wellington Hospital bosses and non-clinical staff have been pitching in to help as staffing shortages hit.

Nurses are the hardest hit health workers at Canterbury DHB but medical technicians, physiotherapists and lab workers are not far behind. Audio

The Omicron outbreak is like a Mexican wave moving away from Auckland through the rest of the country, a leading rural GP says.

Nearly half a million New Zealanders have now officially had Covid-19. Health correspondent Rowan Quinn talks to a pregnant nurse, a parent and an immunocompromised student about their experiences.

After weeks of stories of stresses from the shop floor because of doctor and nurse shortages, the true extent has been revealed.

The Covid-19 vaccine booster needs a rebrand because it sounds like it is an "optional extra", says a public health expert, as worry rises about stalling rates.

Auckland hospitals are dealing with far more Covid patients than they predicted in even their worst case scenarios.

Doctors are stepping in to cover some nursing duties as staff absences reach a critical point at Middlemore Hospital.