Lay summary
Patient- and whānau/family-centred care includes whakawhanaungatanga (establishing relationships) and taha whānau (extended kinship) as essential aspects of care. Involving 'whānau/family' as described by the patient leverages their role as allies for safety and quality in direct care interactions, quality and safety initiatives, health professional education, and policy development. Feeding into the Government Policy Statement on Health priority area 3: quality measures, we will use numerical and interview data to evaluate Kōrero Mai at Auckland Hospital, a whānau-led clinical escalation pathway aimed at improving safety and quality of bedside care by addressing whānau concerns about a loved one. Patient, whānau and health professional interview data will provide insights into whānau-centred care dynamics and define expectations for culturally responsive whānau-inclusive inpatient care. This study will target strategies to foster culturally sensitive and contextually relevant quality inpatient care as a first step towards a larger research programme in national guideline development fostering whānau-inclusive care.