Source: Radio New Zealand
Kaupapa Māori GP Manu Ora founders Dr Sara Simmons (left) and Dr Rachel Inder (right). Supplied/Chris Brooks – Motive Digital
Marlborough’s only kaupapa Māori general practice, Manu Ora, has received funding for the next three years with evidence showing it’s early intervention model benefits both its patients and the wider healthcare system.
The Blenheim based practice was established in mid-2021 by Dr Sara Simmons and Dr Rachel Inder in partnership with Te Piki Oranga a Māori health services provider in Te Tauihu.
Co-founder Dr Sara Simmons (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) said it was born from a desire to provide care in a te ao Māori way for the community’s most vulnerable.
“Our partner organisation is Te Piki Oranga, so that’s a Māori wellness service here in Te Tauihu and we were really lucky to kind of gain their support a they recognised that we had something that could kind of close the loop of care for whānau Māori in the region from their perspective, because they have nurses and social workers and addiction services and mental health services and some other social services as well, but they didn’t have any GPs.”
Simmons said they soon realised the service needed to be run as a not for profit entity rather than the traditional GP business model. Only 28 percent of Manu Ora’s funding is provided through the government.
“We rely on funding for 72 percent of our costs. So, you know, that community support is just so critical. And we’ve been really lucky to have that and to get some recognition on a wider stage… We’re four and a half years in, and we’re kind of excited about where to next and what the future will bring and hopefully seeing some of those big stats turn the corner for our whānau Māori,” she said.
The Rātā Foundation awarded $165,000 to Manu Ora over three years, which Simmons said is their first multi year contract from an external organisation and will provide a degree certainty to their work.
Manu Ora a kaupapa Māori general practice in Blenheim. Supplied/Chris Brooks – Motive Digital
Simmons said they spent much of the practice’s first year planning and engaging with local whānau and community to create a service that would reflect their needs.
“Both Rachel and I are born and bred in the Wairau, and although I whakapapa to further south, down in Wairewa, you know, I’ve grown up going to Omaka Marae and connecting with our Māori community locally, and so we just really kind of opened the door and asked the question. And I think what people identified with was, the desire to do something different and the desire to do something that was really designed from the ground up to really benefit our community. So, we didn’t start with any preconceived ‘this is what we think it should look like,’ we really just asked that question of our whānau and kind of went from there.”
It’s a privilege to be able to provide care in a kaupapa Māori model, she said.
“It stemmed from a desire to do something different, a desire to do something that we thought was the right thing to do for our whānau Māori in the area… When we started having kōrero with people about what we wanted to do, that’s when we really thought, yeah, this is something that our community needs, because I think in Marlborough, in particular, many people have their eyes shut to the kind of poverty and the needs that is out there.
“I mean, we’ve got strong primary industry, and I think people see all of that, and don’t see the housing insecurity, and the kai insecurity, and the job insecurity, and then the kind of flow-on effects from that onto people’s mental health and their hauora, their overall well-being.”
Simmons said when the practice first opened, there was some concern from established practices in the region about their approach.
“It’s a reflection of the region really not providing care for our whānau Māori in a way that is really best for them. And, you know, we look at the stats and whānau Māori are less likely to seek out healthcare and then even when they do, they’re less likely to receive gold standard care. And so those impacts, you know, in the big picture, that health inequality is just, well, it’s massive and it’s really heartbreaking, you know, and to look at my tamariki and know that their life expectancy is seven or eight years less than non-Māori their same age – that’s kind of why we do what we do is, is to look to benefit, not only the whānau who we’ve got enrolled with us now, but our future generations.”
The team from Manu Ora a kaupapa Māori general practice in Marlborough. Supplied/Chris Brooks – Motive Digital
An independent evaluation by Sapere (2022) reported: “Stakeholders identify to us that these high needs vulnerable whānau likely would not have [otherwise] connected with general practice or would not have received an appropriate level of service, and only occasionally would have been seen by the DHB in its hospital, usually in a crisis situation.”
Manu Ora maintains a lower patient-to-GP ratio of 1:900, compared to the national average of 1:1,700. Nearly 50 percent of the practice’s patient roll is Māori, compared to 13 percent at other Blenheim practices; over 50 percent of staff, and 80 percent of the Board, whakapapa Māori.
Simmons thanked the team at Manu Ora, saying they are lucky to have a group of both Māori and non-Māori clinicians who can provide whānau centred care.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand