Trigger Warning:

This episode discusses patient harm, medical misconduct, death, and systemic failures within healthcare. Some listeners may find the content distressing. Please take care while listening and seek professional support if needed.

In this powerful and confronting episode of Your Nurse Voice Matters, Wendy speaks with renowned nurse and patient advocate Toni Hoffman about one of the most significant patient safety failures in Australian healthcare history—the Bundaberg Hospital case involving Dr Jayant Patel—and the enduring lessons for nurses today.

Toni shares her extraordinary nursing journey, from ICU and midwifery work in Australia, the UK, and the Middle East, to her leadership role in Bundaberg Hospital. She courageously recounts how she and other clinicians identified serious clinical red flags, escalating patient harm, and the systematic dismantling of safety checks—only to be ignored, discredited, and threatened when they spoke up.

At the heart of this conversation is a critical message: nurses are vital patient advocates, and speaking up—while difficult and often isolating—is essential to community safety. Toni offers practical guidance for nurses at any stage of their career on recognising warning signs, documenting concerns, using internal reporting systems, and seeking external support when internal processes fail.

This episode is not just a reflection on the past; it is a call to action for today’s nurses to support one another, stand firm in ethical practice, and protect patients when they cannot protect themselves.

Contact Toni Hoffman: Email: toto2@ozemail.com.au

If you know a Registered Nurse that has a story to tell, pass, connect with me www.healthyoptionsnow.org.