A Taranaki hospital nurse has described how residents feared a gunman was on the loose in staff accommodation after shots were fired in the car park last night.

The offenders responsible for the shooting at the Taranaki Base Hospital last night are still on the loose.

Police responded to multiple reports of gunshots at about 9.30pm and found a man with leg injuries in the hospital's Tukapa Street carpark. The 43-year-old from New Plymouth has undergone surgery and is in a stable condition.

The nurse, Krystal, who lives in the staff accommodation said she returned from her shift at about 11.30pm and that everyone was "pretty spooked".

"The sound carries a lot in there so it sounded like, or they said it sounded like, the person was in the building.

"So they all went to one side of the building until it was over and the police came in."

She said it was a while before anybody felt ready to go to bed.

"Everyone was wide awake when I got home at 11.30pm and a few of us sat up and watched videos to calm down."

Barry Hopkins lives directly across from the carpark.

"I was in bed and I heard two bangs and I thought, 'oh, should I get up?' And I thought, 'nah it's probably only a car backfiring.' I thought, 'shall I get out of bed?' And I thought, 'no.' "

Not even the police sirens were enough to shake Mr Hopkins out of bed.

"It still didn't register. With a hospital across the road you don't think of things like that."