A group of health professionals are calling for a new organisation to address patient rights and safety as people find the health system increasingly difficult to navigate.
Charlotte Korte, Denise Astill and Sue Claridge, of Dunedin, on behalf of the Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance, submitted at this week’s health select committee in Parliament their petition calling for the creation of an Independent Patient Safety Commissioner for New Zealand.
Ms Korte said although a health and disability commissioner already existed, this role was essentially "reactive" and did not have the ability to address concerns or trends in the health system while they were happening in real time.
"We believe patient harm at present is under-reported in New Zealand.
"I think what we really want to do is start that conversation going about patient harm and preventable harm, and the fact that the systems that we have in place is actually enabling more harm."
She said although there were several organisations "at the bottom of the mountain" that addressed patient safety, such as ACC and the Health and Quality Safety Commission, they were not very well co-ordinated.
"None of our health agencies actually have a proper mandate to action anything.
"Even if there’s a real serious concern, like for example the surgical mesh issue, they cannot say ‘you must stop doing that now’ because our legislation doesn’t permit it."
Ms Korte said the health system as it presently existed in New Zealand was "extremely complex" to navigate.
"So what this role would be doing is having a proper look at the whole health system and taking a proactive approach.
"They would be bringing all of our health agencies, everybody across the sector together, and actually proactively driving change.
"At the moment, we just react."
Clinicians would also have the opportunity to approach the commissioner should they be concerned about ongoing trends in the health system, such as staff burnout, Ms Korte said.
Terry Taylor, who wrote in support of the submission, said patients could be caught between two worlds when dealing with the complexity of healthcare through no fault of themselves.
"Health practitioners can speak what seems like a different language with regards to their diagnostics and care.
"One thing that patients have in-built that health practitioners don’t is exactly how they feel and perceive their interactions and outcomes. In today’s exceptionally busy health environment there can be limited time to fully appreciate what is really in front of us."
In order to be successful, the commissioner would need to have a "direct pathway" to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora and the Ministry of Health, he said.
"At present, there is no clear place for patients to go to when faced with the daunting situation of a difficult health decision that may have significant wider implications. The end point of a poor care decision can unearth a preventive systemic failure underneath."
Ms Korte said she was pleased with how she was received at the select committee, but the advocacy for this role was "only just beginning".
