About the strategy
The New Zealand Health and Disability System Safety Strategy (the strategy) sets a system wide direction for strengthening quality and safety as a foundation for people centred care in New Zealand. The strategy’s aim is to reduce potentially avoidable harm, build trust, and improve the quality and safety of the health and disability system for everyone in New Zealand.
It recognises health care as a complex, interconnected system where safety depends on how the system is designed, led and supported.
The strategy supports active engagement with patients, whānau and communities so we can understand their experiences, whether services are meeting their needs, and where improvements can be made.
Health workers are central to creating safe, high quality, people-centred health care. This strategy supports them to do that.
The strategy aligns with the World Health Organization's Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 and New Zealand’s commitment to the Mandaluyong Declaration on Patient Safety which recognises the role of system safety as a pillar of global health systems.
Note that in the strategy, the word ‘patient’ refers to any person who engages with the health and disability system in New Zealand at any stage of their life.
