Patient safety shouldn't depend on luck
Nobody should enter a hospital or health service wondering whether there will be enough staff, enough time or enough resources to keep them safe.
But across Aotearoa New Zealand, patients and health workers are telling us the same thing: a health system under sustained pressure creates risks for the people who rely on it and the people working inside it.
On Thursday 17 September, Kaitiaki Hauora, Health Coalition Aotearoa and Patient Voice Aotearoa are bringing patients, health workers and political leaders into the same room to talk about it.
The Patient Safety Forum, held at Auckland's Fickling Centre as part of World Patient Safety Day 2026, will put patient safety front and centre where it belongs.
And with an election approaching, we want to hear more than reassuring words about how well the health system is doing. We want political parties to tell patients and health workers what they will actually do to make it safer.
Confirmed speakers include Dr David Galler; nurse Sophie Tombs; Hūhana Lyndon from the Green Party; Hon David Seymour from the ACT Party; Phil Twyford from the Labour Party; and Cody Marsh from the Opportunity Party.
Three patients will also share their own experiences of the health system. Their names aren't on the poster, but their voices are an important part of this conversation.
The forum will be co-moderated by Malcolm Mulholland and Liz Manley.
Thursday 17 September, 6.30pm
Fickling Centre, Three Kings, Auckland
It's free, it's open to everyone, and we'd like you there.
