Cultural Safety

Policy

Q22

Uplifting Mana Through Culturally Safe Care:

At our practice, we honour the mana of every person who walks through our doors. All patients and their whānau have the right to feel safe—physically, emotionally, and culturally.

We respect and value the diverse cultural beliefs, practices, and identities of those we serve. We recognise that true partnership in health means creating space for every person to lead decisions about their care in ways that reflect who they are and what matters to them.

We acknowledge the historical and ongoing impacts of inequity in our health system, particularly for Māori. We understand that these inequities are not the result of individual failings, but of systems that have not always upheld the mana of all people equally.

As a team, we are committed to reflecting on our own attitudes and biases, and to working in ways that restore balance, build trust, and strengthen the mana of those we serve. Through humility, openness, and continuous learning, we strive to create a place where all people feel seen, heard, and respected.

To build a culturally safe environment, we:

• train our team to understand the concepts of cultural competency and cultural safety
• support our team to reflect on how their own underlying attitudes or biases shape interactions with other people
• encourage the use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in our facility
• engage with patients, whānau, and our community to understand their beliefs, values, and norms
• ensure diagnoses and treatments fit with each person's cultural contexts, while following the best clinical pathway
• include whānau in health care as appropriate.

See also Bias and Achieving Equity.

Clinical governance

Any feedback indicating that our healthcare facility isn't culturally safe is discussed by our clinical governance team, who identify the steps needed to investigate and address this.

See also Clinical Governance.

Determining cultural safety

Cultural safety is determined by people's experience and whether they feel comfortable, respected, and fully engaged at our facility.

Q26

To gain an understanding of how culturally safe people feel at our facility, we assess feedback from sources such as:

• survey results, including Happy or Not and the PES
• complaints
• informal feedback
• face-to-face meetings with patients and whānau.

See also Patient Experience.