Rowan Quinn

The government's introducing a 'high powered task force' to tackle the issue of ballooning waitlists for hospital operations and appointments.

There are 27,000 people who've been waiting four months… Audio

An Auckland woman who had her breast cancer operation postponed twice is one of thousands caught up in delays caused by Omicron.

There were 2500 fewer planned surgeries carried out in Auckland in the… Audio

There's been a major setback in the fight for nurses to fix the gender pay gap.

The Health Minister Andrew Little says the New Zealand Nurses Organisation has decided not to put a pay equity… Audio

A month after the Omicron outbreak peaked in Auckland senior doctors are calling for patient care to get back to normal.

The region's has been at the front of the country's Covid-19 wave, with cases… Audio

Canterbury has nearly three times the rate of new Covid-19 infections as Auckland but, so far, the main emergency department says it is coping well.

The number of new cases recorded in the region… Audio

The Omicron outbreak's being described as a Mexican wave surging out from Auckland and into the rest of the country.

Cases are on the rise south of the Bombays, and there's a reminder the outbreak is… Audio

A pregnant nurse hospitalised with Covid-19 has described her fear as the virus hit - she was so sick she was vomiting blood.

She's one of several thousand people hospitalised in the Omicron… Audio

Auckland's hospitals have been missing up to a quarter of their staff some days during the Covid outbreak.

After weeks of stories of stresses from the shop floor because of doctor and nurse… Audio

An Auckland emergency doctor says her exhausted colleagues are expecting a busy couple of weeks even as hospital cases appear close to peaking.

Latest DHB figures show up to 40 percent of people at… Audio

The ongoing staffing crunch is hitting those at the front lines of the Covid outbreak. Just two nurses were available to care for a ward of 26 patients at Auckland Hospital during one shift last week.

Patients are spending as long as 36 hours in emergency departments - often waiting hours in corridors.

Corridor waits were supposed to be abolished years ago but doctors say the problem is hitting… Audio

Nurses say they've been vindicated by an independent report that's found what they've been saying for years - they're overworked and under stress - and patients are suffering.

The review into safe… Video, Audio

People infected with Covid-19 are about to become their own contact tracers, with a new online system about to go live.

The country is now in phase two of its Omicron response and with daily case… Audio

A group of New Zealand-trained nurses - some working with Covid-19 patients - are considering leaving the country because they can't get a visa to live here.

That's despite a nursing shortage so big… Audio

Rural communities could lose access to local medical services when Omicron hits.

Staffing is precarious in many small towns, and doctors, nurses and key admin staff will have to stop working if they… Audio

Anti-viral medications ordered by the government may not be available until after the peak of this outbreak - if they get approval.

Last year the government announced it had bought tens of thousands… Audio

Data modellers believe half of all New Zealanders could be infected with Omicron within four months.

The highly infectious Covid-19 variant is circulating in Auckland, and possibly in the Nelson… Audio

The country's Covid-19 contact tracing system is being upgraded to deal with the highly infectious Omicron variant.

It struggled in the Delta outbreak and will be critical for containing the much… Audio

Frustrated New Zealand nurses say they want to come home to work but it's too hard to get back - even with special spots in MIQ.

There are now 300 managed isolation spaces set aside a month for… Audio