Terminally ill Sir Paul Holmes is being nursed at home after being discharged from hospital.

In a statement, Sir Paul's wife Lady Deborah Holmes and brother Ken Holmes said the family were by his side at his Hawke's Bay property.

Yesterday he was in a stable condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital, where he was receiving medical treatment from the hospital and from other supporting organisations.

He has been battling heart problems and the return of prostate cancer, which he said last week was more aggressive than before.

Holmes, 62, who ended his broadcasting career in November because of poor health, was a late addition to the New Year honours list, being made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

He has been suffering for much of the past year from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a genetic heart condition that thickens muscles and restricts bloodflow - and from prostate cancer.

He had four hours of open-heart surgery earlier last year in Auckland Hospital, including nearly a week in an induced coma as he recovered.

He was back in hospital in November after he got an infection.

"When you have a few health scares it makes you think and it provides an opportunity for perspective, " he said at the time, as he stepped down from his role as a mainstay presenter for radio station Newstalk ZB.

He headlined TVNZ's flagship Holmes programme until 2004.

- © Fairfax NZ News