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April 22, 2021
Maori Health Authority could drive focus on primary care
Waatea Team
Posted On April 22, 2021
A Māori disability advocate says the new Māori Health Authority needs to have a strong focus on primary healthcare.
Huhana Hickey says she is cautiously optimistic about the proposed reforms.
She says the voices of Māori have been ignored for too long, with the result that too many end up in the hospital system with conditions that would have been preventable if they had the right treatment at an early stage, or even in childhood.
"The Māori Health Authority, if it could focus on primary care, we could actually reduce the need we when go into DHBs later on in life, we might find a reduction. We are not going to find it by spending on the tertiary level, which is hospital-level care. That is becoming untenable. We need to have a focus on primary level care and we can do that with the Māori Health Authority," she says.
Dr Hickey says rather than being dominated by doctors and nurses, the Māori Health Authority needs to be driven by community leaders who can get their people to use services.
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