March 15, 2023
Māori health workforce push missing mark
New research has highlighted how Māori are still not coming into the health system in the numbers needed to match their share of the population.
The sociodemographic study of students enrolled in their first year of a health professional programme found the enrolment rate for Māori students is about 99 per 100,000 of eligible population, compared with 152 per 100,000 for pakeha.
Most of the Maori students were in nursing courses rather than for higher-paid roles like doctors, radiologists or pharmacists.
Professor Peter Crampton from Otago University’s School of Medicine says the under-representation of Māori students is of particular concern given the commitment in the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act to growing the Māori health workforce, and policy changes are needed to drive that change.
“The logic of attracting in under-represented groups is very strong because they bring a quality dividend with them because they bring skills, knowledge, expertise that enables them to provide higher quality healthcare, particularly with particular groups of patients they know about,” Professor Crampton says.