Ele Ludemann: Bureaucracy or services?

The government is replacing an expensive bureaucracy with better services:

Legislation that will disestablish the Māori Health Authority will be introduced in Parliament today, heralding the start of a new vision for Māori health says Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti.

 

“We have said we will bring healthcare for all New Zealanders closer to the home and closer to the community. This will serve Māori and non-Māori well,” Dr Reti says. . .

“Merging the functions of the Māori Health Authority and transferring its roles into the public health system means the health system keeps the expertise it needs to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders including Māori. . .

“Iwi Māori Partnership Boards (IMPBs) and the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee remain in place. Both were established under the Pae Ora Act 2022.

“The Government will continue working with both groups to chart a new direction for Māori health. Their voices may evolve but both can have a role.

“No matter how the health system is shaped, what’s important is how it functions.

“We need function over form, we need results over reports.

“The Government intends to shift decision-making closer to communities to allow the people who know their communities best to guide service design and commissioning,” Dr Reti says.

Māori are over represented in negative health statistics but it doesn’t need a separate health authority to change that.

The causes are complex and none will be addressed by a bureaucracy.

What’s needed is better services and it’s far better to spend money on that than wasting more on the failed experiment that was the Māori Health Authority.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.