From PHB.293:
"When you spend a healing surge, you restore lost hit points to your current hit point total.
From PHB.226:
Healing Surge: You begin with one use of the power per day, like a daily power. You can renew this item’s power by taking a standard action to funnel your vitality into the item, spending a healing surge in the process. Spending a healing surge in this way doesn’t restore hit points, and this standard action is separate from the action required to activate the item’s power.
and, most important, from PHB.11:
Simple Rules, Many Exceptions. Every class, race, feat, power, and monster in the D&D game lets you break the rules in some way.
So, page 293 gives the base rules to using healing surges, and page 226 gives a way to break this rules through the use of a magical item which recharges by the expenditure of a healing surge. Simple!