Health Navigator NZ Wins Award For Patient Safety Resources

New Zealand’s national health information service Health Navigator NZ is the winner of the prestigious ACC Patient Safety Award in this year’s New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora.

The award recognises an individual or team for outstanding innovation and leadership in patient safety, with medicine safety being one aspect of this.

It’s the second year in a row Health Navigator NZ has been a finalist in the only national primary health care awards.

The Health Navigator NZ entry focused on improving medicine safety through a range of free, easy-to-read resources, including information sheets, web pages, videos, personal diaries and dose calculators. These accurate, evidence-based plain-language resources and tools help New Zealanders understand how to take, give and store their medicines safely.

“It’s so important to have clear, engaging medicine information that people can read and understand,” says Health Navigator NZ founder and CEO Janine Bycroft.

“If not used correctly, medicines can cause serious harm and even death. Our easy-to-read free resources help people use their medicines safely and know when to seek assistance.”

The Government’s health sector reforms shift the focus to prevention and primary care to increase efficiency of service provision and improve equity of outcomes, particularly for Māori.

The win helps position Health Navigator NZ at the forefront of these changes, with its focus on improving access, being people-centred, working towards health equity and promoting a cohesive approach and system.

A catalyst for collaboration

Dr Bycroft hopes that winning the Patient safety award will boost interest in and support for a national digital health content hub, which Health Navigator Charitable Trust is creating in partnership with KidsHealth NZ and HealthInfo Canterbury.

The hub will act as a central repository for trusted, New Zealand focused, high-quality health content and self-care resources for all New Zealanders. Benefits of the hub include improved access to the right information and support at the right time, contributing to optimal medical management, rangatiratanga (self-determination), whānau ora, hauoranga (living healthy lifestyles) and taha hinengaro (mental wellbeing).

This is desperately needed to reach more equitable outcomes for Maori, Pasifika, people with disabilities and other high-needs populations.

“The sector could do a much better job if there was a national collaborative working together and focused on putting equity and whanau first,” Dr Bycroft says.

The project also aims to reduce duplication, increase access and improve the sharing of engaging, consistent consumer health resources across the country.

Anyone wanting to join or support the hub collaboration should contact Dr Bycroft.

Health Navigator NZ has a reach of more than one million page views per month and medicines pages receive more than 2.6 million views per year, demonstrating how keenly Kiwis trust and use the information.

The awards were held on 15 May at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland.

Lifetime of service for Health Navigator NZ consumer advisor

Health Navigator NZ’s Health Consumer Advisory Service’s long-time member Barbara Broome (91) was also a finalist in the awards – she was runner up in the Good Sort award, which honours a person working in primary care who goes above and beyond paid employment to make people feel better.

Barbara, who is part Fijian, was recognised for her lifetime of community contribution, particularly in the health and disability sector. She had a long career working as a public health nurse, is a highly respected advocate for the rights of disabled people, and has been fighting for equity for decades.

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