The past six months has seen a significant upswing in use of our wellness support programmes, including our online virtual consults, among Māori enrolled in our network.

From preliminary analysis of research data, it is apparent that Māori are accessing wellbeing services at higher rates than average than other ethnicities, which is mitigating some of the inequity in access in the past.

Welcoming the positive results, our lead psychiatrist Dr David Codyre says: “We would like to see similar increases in use of wellbeing services by our Pasifika patients, who currently sit at an average use level.”

At the same time, the research - being undertaken by Synergia for the health sector-wide Well-being Co-operative in Auckland - also indicates that Māori are still not presenting at primary care in high enough volumes. Further analysis is looking at the reasons for this with the aim of increasing access.

Further insights from the research will be available in 2021. It includes data from three DHBs, seven PHOs, 23 NGOs and treaty partners. 

Just over one-third (34%) of Total Heathcare enrolled patients are Pasifika, 31% are Asian, 16% are Māori and 15% are European. The research showed that Asians accessed a disproportionately higher level of wellness support services.