Northland nurse, researcher and educator Dr Pipi Barton has received the prestigious 2026 Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award, recognising more than three decades dedicated to strengthening Māori nursing and creating pathways for the next generation of tapuhi Māori.
Dr Barton, of Ngāti Puhiawe, Ngāti Horotakere and Ngāti Hikairo ki Kāwhia, was presented with the taonga at the Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference at Māhurehure Marae in Tāmaki Makaurau earlier this month.
Awarded only every two years, the Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award is the highest honour presented by Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa, representing the Māori members of Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation.
The award carries the name of pioneering Māori nurse and midwife Akenehi Hei, the first Māori nurse and midwife to register under her own name rather than Agnes, the name given to her by her Pākehā employers.
More than three decades backing Māori nurses
Since becoming a registered nurse in 1991, Dr Barton has made supporting Māori nurses and tauira a central focus of her career.
Her master’s and doctoral research has focused on Māori health and nursing, examining why Māori representation within the nursing workforce has remained stubbornly low despite the growing Māori population.
Her research found Māori nurses have accounted for around seven percent of the nursing workforce for approximately 40 years, despite Māori comprising about 17.5 percent of the population.
That disparity has major implications for a health system seeking to improve Māori outcomes, particularly in rural communities where workforce shortages and barriers to healthcare can be even more pronounced.
Research leads to action at Ngāwha
Dr Barton’s doctoral findings helped support the establishment of NorthTec’s Puawānanga Tapuhi Māori – Bachelor of Nursing Māori programme.
Based in the Māori community of Ngāwha near Kaikohe, it is one of only four Māori nursing programmes in Aotearoa and the only one based in a rural setting.
The programme officially launched last year and its first cohort is expected to graduate next year.
Its purpose goes directly to one of the central findings of Dr Barton’s research — that Māori tauira and nurses can struggle within mainstream Bachelor of Nursing programmes and that more Māori-specific nursing pathways are needed.
The Ngāwha programme is designed not only to increase the number of Māori entering nursing but to build the rural Māori nursing workforce, creating opportunities for people to train closer to their own whānau and communities.
The next challenge — keeping tauira Māori in nursing
Dr Barton is now extending that work through research examining whether Māori nursing programmes improve retention and completion rates for Māori Bachelor of Nursing students.
That could provide important evidence for the future development of Māori-led nursing education across Aotearoa.
Growing the number of tapuhi Māori is about more than workforce statistics.
Māori nurses bring lived experience, cultural knowledge and connections to whānau and communities that can strengthen culturally safe healthcare and help address persistent inequities experienced by Māori patients.
For Te Tai Tokerau and other rural regions, developing nurses who understand the communities they serve can also help build a more sustainable health workforce closer to home.
The 2026 Te Akenehi Hei Memorial Award therefore recognises both Dr Barton’s personal contribution and the generations of Māori nurses whose work has created pathways for those following behind them.
From advocating for Māori tauira to helping establish a Māori nursing degree in Ngāwha, her career has been focused on a simple but significant ambition — more Māori nurses, stronger Māori nursing leadership and a health system in which tapuhi Māori can succeed.
#PipiBarton #TeAkenehiHei #TapuhiMaori #MaoriNursing #MaoriNurses #HauoraMaori #MaoriHealth #HealthEquity #NorthTec #PuawanangaTapuhiMaori #Ngawha #Kaikohe #TeTaiTokerau #Northland #RuralHealth #NursingEducation #MaoriWorkforce #IndigenousNurses #NZNO #TeRunangaOAotearoa #MaoriLeadership #WhanauOra #HealthWorkforce #MaoriNews #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea #WaateaDigital
