1 May 2018
NZNO kaiwhakahaere addressed UN Forum on Indigenous Rights about Māori health workforce issues
Back from the mid-April United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Rights, NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku has called
for the government’s full commitment to development of and planning for a growing Māori nursing workforce.
At the forum Kerri Nuku requested a UN intervention to ensure indigenous womens’ voices are included and heard at the
decision making level of health and a health system that recognises the value in having a nursing workforce, which
reflects the Māori population demographic.
“An aspirational Māori nursing workforce goal with no further commitment, funding or implementation strategy is
unacceptable,” Kerri Nuku said.
“The underfunding of the public health sector means nursing is far less attractive at a time when we only have 7 per
cent of the nursing workforce being Māori, which is under representative of the Māori population.
“Retention and recruitment of Māori nurses is vital for the future health and wellbeing of our whānau, hapū and iwi and
a Maori Nursing Strategy is urgently needed to address this.
“Whilst commitment has been made to form some regional partnerships to achieve the goal of a Māori nursing workforce
that matches the percentage of Māori in their population by 2028, there is no supporting operational strategy to make
this happen.
In addition, Kerri Nuku draws attention to the fact that nurses working for Māori health care providers are paid up to
25 per cent less than their counterparts in district health boards, yet it is generally the DHBs that fund Māori
providers.
“This situation, although complex could be remedied by different contractual arrangements, if there was the political
will to do so,” she said.
ENDS.