Federated Farmers is willing to contribute towards a major new study into whether coroners' recommendations are being acted upon.

It has been 125 years since the first patient was admitted to Waikato Hospital, on Thursday (17 May).

On this day 125 years ago, the first patient was operated on by candle-light, for a gun-shot injury.

New Zealand is joining the fight against one of the country’s least known diseases on World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 16 May 2012 – To coincide with World IBD Day, Crohn’s & Colitis New Zealand (CCNZ) and healthcare company Abbott have announced the launch of IMPACT, a survey designed to uncover the burden of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and improve understanding and awareness of IBD in New Zealand.

As whooping cough epidemic spreads in NZ, a leading Auckland Paediatrician urges adults to help protect babies

16 May 2012: As numbers of whooping cough (pertussis) cases continue to escalate around the country, a leading Auckland Paediatrician, Dr Cameron Grant, urges people to do more to help protect vulnerable babies.

Plans to set up abortion services in Southland are good news for women of the region who will no longer have to make long journeys to Dunedin or Christchurch for care they should be able to get in their own area, the president of ALRANZ Dr. Morgan Healey said today.

In the March 2012 year:
• 60,860 live births and 29,811 deaths were registered in New Zealand, resulting in a natural increase (live births minus deaths) of 31,049.

Breast Screen Midland (BSM) has experienced a rapid boost in the number of compliments about their free breast screening services.

Since May 1, 17 notes of written gratitude have been received from Midland patients. This surpasses the number of compliments gathered during the entire January to March 2012 period.

Women in western Auckland are being encouraged to get a free mammogram when BreastScreen Waitemata Northland’s digital mobile screening unit visits Glen Eden for the first time next month.

Short term changes in household income have only small effects on health, but have more significant impacts if income is affected by unemployment or chronic health conditions, new research from the University of Otago, Wellington shows.

Te Puna Oranga, Waikato District Health Board’s Maori Health Service, is offering free quit card provider training to all Maori staff working within the Midland region on 30-31 May.

This quit card training is intended for all Maori staff who work with Maori patients, consumers, whanau and community.

The Government’s announcement that Budget 2012 will allocate $143.7 million to improve the lives of people with disabilities is welcome news according to Lifetime Design Strategy and Development Manager, Travis O’Keefe.

CCS Disability Action, a leading disability organisation, welcomes the Government’s announcement of an extra $143.7 million over the next four years for people with disabilities.

New disability money will go some way towards addressing historical underfunding

The PSA is welcoming a boost for disability support services saying it will go some way towards addressing the inequity and historical underfunding in support for people with disabilities.

Giving with one hand and taking with the other not the way to create a healthy New Zealand.

A pre-budget announcement that the Government is funding extra co-ordinating nurses to support those receiving cancer care, that more money is going to elective surgery and that prescription charges are rising is sending mixed messages about health says the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).

The Government’s announcement that it will increase the co-payment for a prescription from $3 to $5 per item, for up to a maximum of 20 items per year, represents a questionable trade-off, says a University of Otago public health researcher.

National's sudden decision to force Kiwis to pay more for health services is affirmation that it has failed to properly manage the economy or create growth, says Labour Leader David Shearer.

Budget 2012 will make available $143.7 million over the next four years to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Speaking at the New Zealand Federation of Disabilities Information Centres’ Conference in Queenstown today, Health Minister Tony Ryall says the $143.7 million is made up of $132.7 million in new investment and $11.0 million in savings.

The government’s announcement of a $2 hike in prescription charges next year is more than enough to cover the expected cost of specialised medicines for rare “orphan” diseases, says the NZ Organisation for Rare Disorders.

It would be nice to think that the basis for yesterday’s decision to raise prescription charges wasn’t just “ We haven’t lifted them for 20 years” and/or that it didn’t sound like much of a price rise if like Health Minister Tony Ryall or Prime Minister John Key, you were earning over $200,000 a year.

Today the Prime Minister gave a pre-budget announcement at Wellington Regional Hospital; he was accompanied by Health Minister Tony Ryall.
He announced a number of new initiatives which came to an investment of $101m over four years which will be largely funded by an increase in prescription charges and other savings within the health sector.