Kerri Nuku is the Kaiwhakahaere of New Zealand Nurses Organisation. Photo: Nick Tapp
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation said the number of nurses working for iwi and Māori providers would need to rise to keep up with the projected Māori population growth.
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said iwi and Māori health providers were key to lifting Māori health outcomes and reducing inequities.
"We know that whānau who receive care at iwi and Māori health providers which emphasise tikanga are associated with more responsive care and improved engagement."
The report How many more nurses does New Zealand need?, released in August, identified that there were 841 nurses working at Māori and iwi providers in 2023.
Of that, there were 551 full timers which was not enough due to the high number of nurses working part-time.
"To keep up with projected growth of the Māori population, the number of nurses working for iwi and Māori providers would need to rise from 551 FTE's to 679 - a rise of 128," Nuku said.
Iwi and Māori health providers also serve non-Māori patients.
She said the infometrics found Māori and iwi health providers were struggling to recruit nurses because of "fragmented and often short-term funding channels", and funding not keeping pace with the increasing needs of their patients.
"Not only do these providers tend to have sicker patients, they're limited in their ability to increase fees because many of their patients are on low incomes.
"Lower pay rates are also making it difficult to attract nurses with one provider unable to fill two vacant nurse positions for more than eight months."
Funding shortfalls were a result of pay disparities between nurses in Māori health providers and nurses paid under the Te Whatu Ora collective agreement, such as those in public hospitals, the report said.
In recent years, pay inequity had led to reduced sustainability among nurses in kaupapa Māori health providers because nurses had left their jobs for a higher pay in public hospitals.
Nuku said Māori and iwi health providers had been underfunded for too long.
"This year's Health budget allocated just 2.7 percent of spending to delivering hauora Māori services," she said, which was not proportionate when Māori made up 17 percent of the total population.
Kaupapa Māori health nurses also had a higher age demographic.
In 2023, 39 percent of Māori health nurses were aged 55 years or older compared with 28 percent of nurses across all settings.
The age bracket with the fewest nurses were those aged 25 years and under who made up less than 2.5 percent of Māori health nurses and just over 5 percent of nurses across all settings.
"NZNO is calling on the Coalition Government to immediately address funding issues for the sector so providers can attract and retain nurses. A sustainable funding model, developed with Māori, for Māori, is critical," Nuku said.
"As we learnt during the Covid response, Māori and iwi health providers are key to turning around Māori health inequities and saving the health system money in the long run."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
