Success of Inaugural Midland Region Quality Conference
Inspiring speakers who challenged health professionals in Rotorua on Friday to “Keep our patients safe” made the
inaugural Midland Region Quality Workshop a success even before it finished.
More than 150 from the region’s five district health boards – Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti, Taranaki and Lakes –
along with representatives from primary health organisations and aged care organisations heard from a variety of
speakers.
Midland is the only region in the country to have a patient safety conference supported by the Health Quality and Safety
Commission.
Lakes DHB chief executive Ron Dunham and Waikato DHB primary strategic liaison Jan Adams, the regional leads for
quality, welcomed participants.
Mr Dunham outlined the workforce challenges faced by the health sector in the next decade, adding that quality
improvement measures would be a key means of providing answers to workforce issues.
Health Quality and Safety Commission chief executive Dr Janice Wilson talked about “Being open to a challenge: patient
safety and the national patient safety campaign.”
Representatives from Lakes, Taranaki Waikato and Bay of Plenty spoke about patient safety.
The afternoon session focussed on consumer engagement and making a difference for the patient experience.
Speakers included former Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell who spoke about what a complex world it was
now. For the past seven years Mr Russell has been self-employed with a specific interest in health from a consumer
perspective.
“Innovation over the past 70 years has been remarkable,” he said, resulting in:
Creation of ever increasing inequality
Quest for knowledge by consumers
Role of the internet
The ever present rogues.
“Consumers have rights. There must be an impartial and effective process to lay a complaint. It must come from the top
and be genuine,” said Mr Russell.
The final speaker was Waikato University associate professor Samuel Charlton who talked about human factors. Prof
Charlton is head of the School of Psychology and a member of the Traffic and Road Safety Research Group for the past 20
years.
His work examined a range of road transport issues such as driver attentiveness and fatigue, drivers’ perceptions of
risk, acute protracted error effects associated with alcohol, the effect of cell phones on driver performance, the
conspicuity and comprehension of hazard warning signs and the design of self-explaining roads.
ends