Patient Safety Week is in full swing at Taranaki DHB and the efforts of our staff have been noted at a national level on channel one's Seven Sharp.

Every episode the presenters do a short opinion piece at the end of the show about a topic of their choice, and last night Taranaki's own Toni Street discussed Patient Safety Week, with a special mention to all of the hard work happening here at Taranaki DHB.

"This week is Patient Safety Week and from what I've seen the DHB's are really trying to make things as good as they possibly can. The whole focus is 'Let's Talk', actually communicating with patients to reassure them. It might sound very simple but I tell you what, when you're lying there not knowing what's wrong with you, you're in a pretty scary place and having a nurse or doctor that is reassuring and actually has the right information is a godsend."

So well done to the likes of Taranaki DHB, who this week have been taking nominations for 'star communicators' and getting patients to tell them exactly what matters most.

They're tidying up things like making sure patients understand what happens when they leave hospital and the understand their treatment and why they're having it.

To engage in an effort like this means you really do care and we can all be very thankful for that." – Toni Street

Well done to staff at all the DHBs that have been making use of the Patient Safety Week resources and putting in extra efforts to make sure your communication with staff, patients and their whanau are caring and effective.

Check out the video by clicking on the link below:
http://tvnz.co.nz/seven-sharp/having-nurse-doctor-reassure-patient-godsend-believe-me-i-know-video-6412749