Elevate the voice of consumers and whānau on Aotearoa Patient Safety Day | Te Rā Haumaru Tūroro o Aotearoa 2023

Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission (Te Tāhū Hauora) is encouraging health care providers to elevate the voice of consumers and whānau this Aotearoa Patient Safety Day | Te Rā Haumaru Tūroro o Aotearoa 2023, Friday 17 November 2023.

The theme for 2023 is ‘Engaging consumers and whānau for patient safety’ with the tagline ‘Elevate the voice of consumers and whānau’. This aligns with the international theme from the World Health Organization’s Global Patient Safety Day.

Te Tāhū Hauora is marking the day with the release of a video about elevating the voice of consumer and whānau through co-design and applying the code of expectations for health entities’ engagement with consumers and whānau. 

It features insights from Dr Tammy Pegg, consultant cardiologist at Te Whatu Ora Nelson Marlborough, and Jodie Bennett, kaiwhaihua at Changing Minds, and members of the Te Tāhū Hauora consumer advisory group te kāhui mahi ngātahi.

Deon York, director of consumer engagement at Te Tāhū Hauora, says the video is an introduction to the benefits of co-design as an effective tool for elevating the voice of consumers and whānau in our health care services.

‘By embedding the voice of consumers, whānau and communities in health system planning, evaluation, governance and delivery, we can have a safer and higher-quality health system for all of Aotearoa New Zealand,’ says Mr York. 

Te Tāhū Hauora has information, resources and practical advice about co-design to support implementation of the code of expectations for health entities' engagement with consumers and whānau. Visit the Te Tāhū Hauora consumer hub, Ngā Pae Hiranga.

A link to the Aotearoa Patient Safety Day video is below.

About co-design

Co-design is a term used widely in Aotearoa New Zealand to describe the involvement of people in the design of health-related processes, services, information, models of care, strategies, environments and policies that impact them. It may also be called participatory approaches, co-creation and co-production, each of which can be interpreted slightly differently.

Co-design intentionally brings consumers, whānau, communities and health care providers together to understand their experiences and gather their ideas for improving the health system and health outcomes for all New Zealanders.

Co-design e-learning modules

Te Tāhū Hauora has a suite of introductory e-learning modules on co-design for health care providers and consumers. The modules cover how to:

• support consumers, whānau and communities to contribute to co-design
• engage Māori consumers in co-design
• engage Pacific consumers in co-design
• get involved as consumers, whānau and communities.

A certificate of completion is available to anyone who completes all four health professional-focused modules.

Implementation guide for the code of expectations

The recently published implementation guide for the code of expectations is another valuable resource for health care workers. It offers practical advice, resources and examples of consumer engagement. It focuses on co-designing with consumers, whānau and communities; using lived experience to improve health services; improving equity through partnership and collaboration; and accessibility and resourcing for consumer, whānau and community engagement.