'Something had to change': Māori health providers welcome new authority

Thursday, 30 June 2022

Kōkiri Marae manager Teresea Olsen says the Māori Health Authority will make a “huge difference” in addressing inequality.

Health workers are “excited” about the new Māori Health Authority that aims to reduce inequities in the sector.

The authority launched alongside Health New Zealand on Friday, and the two bodies will work together to develop system plans and commission primary, community and kaupapa Māori services.

Owen Sinclair (Te Rarawa) is a doctor at Waitākere Hospital in West Auckland.

He said he was excited but realistic about the Māori Health Authority.

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“It's really an exciting time to be Māori … we’ve got this change in the health system that has got key components that are designed to address the long-standing issues in Māori health,” he said.

'Something had to change, and I think that having a particular part of the health system that is both funded and designed purely to address Māori health issues is something that I fully support, and I'm very excited about.'

Paediatrician Owen Sinclair says the Māori Health Authority is a first step and a positive one – “something had to change”.

But Sinclair said he was concerned the authority may not be “fully funded and supported”, and that people’s expectations may be too high.

'This is part of a journey towards addressing inequalities in the New Zealand health system,” he said.

'It’s not going to happen fast, it's going to take a long period of time, probably longer than my time in the health system. But it's a first step, it's a positive one, and something had to change, so I'm really excited.'

Sinclair is one of only five Māori general paediatricians in Aotearoa.

'The problem with Māori health in general is that there's just so few people,” he said.

Kōkiri Marae supports Māori who may be missed by mainstream health services, and Olsen says the Authority will address inequities in funding.

'The opportunity for a Māori patient in New Zealand to visit a Māori paediatrician, the chance of that happening is quite low.'

Sinclair said the Māori Health Authority will guide the mainstream health system to change and 'address inequities in a meaningful way”.

'That will be quite a difficult thing, and for a long time there'll be a lot of pushback.'

Teresea Olsen (Ngāti Porou) runs health and social services at Kōkiri Marae in Lower Hutt, Wellington.

She said the whānau that come to her are 'not the ones that generally go to their health centres or have regular health checks.

'They are the ones that have multiple health issues and social issues. They're the ones that generally have gone through the system, and come out the other end no better off,” she said.

Olsen said she goes to clients as opposed to them visiting her, and provides a “very mobile service” so that access is better.

Te Piki Oranga chairwoman Jane du Feu says the new authority is a positive step forward for kaupapa Māori services.

'But none of that is taken into account in terms of the funding, so we get funded the same dollars as non-Māori organisations,” she said.

“Yet in terms of a resource, it takes us five times as much effort to be able to connect with that person. So those kinds of things, the inequities of funding, is really huge for us.'

She said the Māori Health Authority would make a 'huge difference”.

'I think it's really important to have an organisation that's focused on not only supporting the development of Māori workforce, but also making sure that, in terms of equity, we have the amount of resource that we need to be able to look after our people,” she said.

'To have an organisation that's totally focused on Māori, I can't think of anything better, actually. I'm excited by all this and the endless possibilities that it has.'

Jane du Feu (Taranaki Tūturu, Ngāti Tama and Te Atiawa) is the chairwoman of Te Piki Oranga, a Māori health provider in Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-o-Māui or the northern South Island region of Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough.

It covers people in both rural and urban areas.

'From our perspective, having a Māori Health Authority certainly gives credibility to the services that we run, and also gives opportunities in terms of how we might move forward together,” she said.

'It certainly does raise opportunities, and it is a positive step forward for kaupapa Māori services and the community at large.'

However, Feu raised concerns over whether the authority would be adequately funded.

'The difficulty we're faced with is it's not funded equitably, so no matter what you do and how you do it, it can only go so far. But it is certainly a step in the right direction.'