Waikato District Health Board has had enough of ongoing industrial action by medical radiation technologists and is letting its staff, patients and the community know.

Chief executive Craig Climo today said DHBs have had hundreds of strike notices over many months from two unions.

The Stroke Foundation of New Zealand says the Māori Affairs Select Committee's report on tobacco will benefit all New Zealanders. The Committee's recommendations underscore a strategy to halve smoking rates by 2015, as the first step towards a smokefree New Zealand by 2025.

Wellington, NZPA - Severe alcoholics are being advised to keep drinking due to a shortage of acute detoxification beds.

Wellington, Nov 4 NZPA - New Zealand medicines regulators have approved a cannabis-based spray for use by multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in this country, says a big manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals.

Wellington, Nov 3 NZPA - The Auckland District Health Board will apologise to a mother whose unborn baby did not survive a publicly funded procedure at Auckland Hospital and was sent a $2200 bill for the treatment.

Opposition parties and anti-smoking lobby groups are backing tough new recommendations for controlling tobacco.

"The College of GPs endorses the Maori Affairs Select Committee Report on New Zealand's tobacco industry, released today," College President Harry Pert says.

Wellington, Nov 3 NZPA - Opposition parties and anti-smoking lobby groups are backing tough new recommendations for controlling tobacco.

Recommendations made by the Maori Affairs Select Committee's inquiry into tobacco are strongly endorsed by the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) which says that adopting the proposals would have a dramatic effect on improving public health and reducing health inequalities.

The Maori Affairs Select Committee's final report on tobacco is a landmark in smokefree initiatives, according to the Public Health Association (PHA).