Waikato GP: Health ‘red tape’ removed
Dr Martin Mikaere has spent years removing barriers for his rural and Ma¯ori patients.
While the Thames-based Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki GP and Hauraki PHO clinical director says systems have slowly improved – mostly thanks to independent organisations – he’s felt many of the changes at government level have just been ‘‘lip service’’ until now.
In a slew of reforms, the Government has announced it will abolish all 20 district health boards, and create a new organisation, Health New Zealand, that will oversee the health sector.
It will also create an independent Ma¯ori health authority that will make joint decisions with a new centralised health agency.
It’s a ‘‘brave move’’ which Mikaere feels is the right step towards greater health outcomes for all.
‘‘The Government has been promising a lot and there hasn’t been a lot around how it was going to happen, but now they’ve announced their skeletal plan that’s favourable to Ma¯ori,’’ Mikaere said.
With a focus on three groups – New Zealand health, Ma¯ori health and public health – Mikaere said it would ‘‘cut down the red tape’’ in many areas including waiting times, funding and accessibility.
‘‘The current system we are in is quite myopic, and it changes from zone to zone.’’
He said services are ‘‘after contracts all the time, but because everything is about population’’, smaller populations would often miss out, requiring them to get ‘‘more creative about their finances’’.
‘‘Here in Thames Coromandel, we have a massive gap in terms of access. If you go to your provider in Hamilton or Auckland, and they need to get an urgent ultrasound done, you can go to several places.
‘‘For our region, if the Thames Hospital can’t do it, we’ve got to send them to Waikato or Auckland. For a lot of our patients that live under the poverty line that’s not an option, so we have to come up with things such as giving them petrol vouchers to get by.’’
A tailored service for each community would eliminate those barriers and provide ‘‘better services and better solutions’’ no matter where people live.
The creation of the Ma¯ori Health
Authority comes almost two years after a damning Waitangi Tribunal report outlined the consistent failure of the Crown in the care and wellbeing of Ma¯ ori.
On average, Ma¯ ori die seven years younger than non-Ma¯ ori, a fact health experts say is a result of inequities in the system caused largely by institutional racism.
While Mikaere doesn’t think the change will completely stop Ma¯ ori falling through the gaps, he thinks it will reduce many harrowing statistics.
‘‘As part of a Ma¯ori provider and Ma¯ori person myself, I’m constantly frustrated about the health system because they are not numbers to me, they’re people who sit in front of me every day and I see the statistics. Ma¯ ori have always received second-hand health. It’s time that changed.’’
For Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki GP and Hauraki PHO co-CEO Rian Manuel, the changes are music to her ears.
Manuel said Covid-19 has taught the sector the importance of collaboration.
‘‘I take on board the minister’s comments that we can’t just collaborate in times of emergency, we need to be able to do this more effectively and I think that’s what this announcement seeks to do,’’ Manuel said. While ‘‘the devil will be in the detail’’, it’s a move in the right direction.