March 04, 2024
Māori workforce plan years in the making
The creator of an initiative to grow the Māori health and disability workforce in Taranaki says it needs to be treated as a long term project.
Tanya Anaha says when Why Ora was set up 13 years ago to encourage school students into the sector, only about 6 percent of the workforce at the then Taranaki District Heath Board was Māori .
It’s now closer to 20 percent, and along the way 11 doctors have graduated through the programme, and another eight are studying.
There are also more than 60 nurses, a dentists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
Ms Anaha says a lot of work has gone into the relationship with Te Whatu Ora Taranaki to ensure there is an entry path through cadetships and priority hiring.
“And once they’re in there the next goal is to ensure they are authentically able to operate as Māori, and that’s taken some time, I’ll be honest about that, we’re still working through that and I guess that’s happened through all of Aotearoa with our Māori working in the health sector, where we are now having a focus on how do we retain our Māori in those sectors and how are they looked after while they are in those sectors,” she says.