By Tuesday, 16 September 2025, 10:10 Am Press Release: Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance
Copyright scoop
Today, leading health agencies, professional
associations, consumer organisations, advocacy groups, and
individuals across Aotearoa New Zealand have united to
endorse the Mandaluyong Declaration on Patient Safety,
adopted at the 7th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient
Safety in April 2025.
This global declaration, already
embraced by governments worldwide, places patient safety at
the heart of resilient, people-centered, and equitable
health systems. For New Zealand, it represents not just an
international commitment, but a local imperative: to ensure
that every person, whānau, and community receives care that
is safe, equitable, and shaped by their voices and lived
experiences.
New Zealand’s adoption of the
Declaration on 8 July 2025 signals an important step, but
action must follow words. The undersigned organisations are
calling on the Government to show clear leadership by
embedding patient safety and equity in every reform, policy,
and service, and by ensuring accountability, investment, and
cultural change across the health system.
organisations who are calling for visible actions to
underpin the Declaration are unanimous in their stand that
patient safety sits at the heart of an equitable, inclusive,
people-centred, resilient health system.
patient safety is inseparable from advancing equity. For New
Zealand, this means upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and
ensuring that all communities, Māori, Pacific peoples, and
other vulnerable populations, experience care that is safe,
fair, and free from systemic barriers.
The Mandaluyong
Declaration highlights the urgent need for stronger
governance, workforce capability, disaster preparedness, and
genuine partnership with patients and communities. It is a
reminder that safety is not an aspiration, it is a
fundamental right.
This joint call places New Zealand
alongside global leaders in demanding accountability for
avoidable harm and urging sustained action to strengthen
trust, safety, and equity at every level of the health
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