A newly released report on the Well Child Tamariki Ora service for children has been welcomed by Whānau Āwhina Plunket, Aotearoa’s largest and only national provider of Well Child services.

“We are pleased that review has recognised and prioritised the need for a whānau-centred approach that would see greater support for pēpi and tamariki in the earliest years of their life, and for honouring Te Tiriti commitments,” says Whānau Āwhina Plunket CEO, Amanda Malu.

“This review reflects our own journey to improve how we deliver for whānau Māori and work to achieve our goal of delivering all of our services equitably by 2025.

“We acknowledge that the health system and the WCTO programme has failed Māori and Pacific families and agree that meaningful partnership with Māori needs to be embedded across governance, design, delivery and monitoring across WCTO to fulfil the Crown’s Te Tiriti commitments.

“We have looked hard at our own role in the failing health system and we have challenged ourselves to do better,” said Ms Malu.

“Whānau Āwhina Plunket’s commitment to pro-equity was further emphasised last year when we released the latest iteration of Te Rautaki Māori – Nga Pae o Harakeke, our Māori strategy, which sets our Mahere Mana Taurite, our equity roadmap, and guides our responsiveness to whānau Māori.

“While this is a big shift for Whānau Āwhina Plunket, the recommendations from the Well Child Tamariki Ora Review are aligned to our approach. We are also supportive of the report’s call for a more meaningful partnership approach and look forward to working with other providers to help achieve better outcomes for families,” said Ms Malu.

Whānau Āwhina Plunket supported the review work and participated in the advisory rōpū.

“We endorse the report’s direction of travel for the future, but we need more action to address the significant pressures for the delivery of Well Child Tamariki Ora programme today. The funding model is outdated and simply does not reflect today’s delivery needs.

“There are major strains right across the Well Child Tamariki Ora system. Our people are increasingly stretched, with increasing caseloads and as the national provider we don’t refuse any family who needs our help. But the reality today is that Whānau Āwhina Plunket struggles to provide a universal service and still meet the needs of whānau who need our services more. Our nurses and their teams are experiencing significant workloads with staff in some areas carrying caseloads of over 1000 families per nurse – this is simply not sustainable.

“On top of the workload pressure, the costs of delivering the service are rising, with investment of $1.5m required over the next year simply to fund the technology our nurses and kaiāwhina need to do their jobs over the next year,” said Ms Malu.

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