Northland nurse, academic and Māori health advocate Dr Pipi Barton has received one of the highest honours in Māori nursing, recognising more than three decades dedicated to strengthening the Māori nursing workforce and creating better pathways for the next generation of tapuhi Māori.
Dr Barton, of Ngāti Puhiawe, Ngāti Horotakere and Ngāti Hikairo ki Kāwhia, has been awarded the 2026 Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award, presented at the Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference at Māhurehure Marae in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Awarded only once every two years, the honour is the highest bestowed by Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa, representing the Māori membership of Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation.
The award carries the name and legacy of Akenehi Hei, the first Māori nurse and midwife to register using her own Māori name rather than Agnes, the name given to her by her Pākehā employers.
For Dr Barton, that whakapapa of Māori nursing leadership has been central to a career spanning clinical practice, education, research and advocacy.
More than three decades advocating for tapuhi Māori
Dr Barton became a registered nurse in 1991 and has spent much of her career advocating for Māori nurses, from tauira beginning their studies through to those working across the health system.
Her master’s and doctoral research examined Māori health and Māori nursing, including a persistent imbalance within the workforce.
Her research found Māori have remained at around seven percent of the nursing workforce for approximately four decades, despite Māori representing around 17.5 percent of the population.
That gap is particularly significant in regions such as Te Tai Tokerau, where Māori communities can face substantial health inequities alongside workforce shortages and difficulties accessing healthcare in rural communities.
Rather than simply documenting the problem, Dr Barton’s research helped build a response.
Research turned into action at Ngāwha
Findings from her doctoral work supported the establishment of NorthTec’s Puawānanga Tapuhi Māori – Bachelor of Nursing Māori programme.
Based at Ngāwha near Kaikohe, it is one of only four Māori nursing programmes and the only one located in a rural Māori community.
The programme officially launched last year, with its inaugural cohort expected to graduate next year.
Its development recognises that mainstream nursing education has not always provided an environment in which Māori tauira can thrive.
Dr Barton’s research identified significant challenges experienced by Māori students and nurses within mainstream Bachelor of Nursing programmes and highlighted the need for more Māori-specific pathways.
She is now undertaking further research examining whether Māori nursing programmes improve retention and completion rates among Māori Bachelor of Nursing students.
Growing the rural Māori health workforce
The ambition extends beyond increasing the overall number of Māori nurses.
For Te Tai Tokerau, developing a stronger rural Māori nursing workforce means training people within communities who understand the whānau, whenua, tikanga and realities of the rohe they may eventually serve.
Increasing the number of tapuhi Māori can also strengthen culturally safe care and Māori leadership throughout the health system.
At a time when workforce shortages continue to place pressure on health services around Aotearoa, Dr Barton’s work demonstrates how Māori-led education can form part of a longer-term solution.
Her Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award therefore recognises more than an individual career.
It acknowledges a continuum stretching from pioneering Māori nurses such as Akenehi Hei to today’s educators and tauira — and the continuing effort to ensure Māori are not simply patients within the health system but leaders, practitioners, researchers and designers of it.
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