Claim Points To Structural Racism In ACC System For Disabled & Those Needing Home Support

Breaches of Te Tiriti still continue in the New Zealand Health System three years after the historic Hauora Report was released by the Waitangi Tribunal says Lady Tureiti Moxon.

“There is no recognition of Te Tiriti by the Accident Compensation Corporation, let alone the principles as set out in the Hauora Report,” she says.

The Chair of National Urban Māori Authority and Managing Director of Te Kōhao Health in the Waikato is appearing on Wednesday before the Tribunal as it resumes stage two of the Health Services & Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry.

Moxon alongside 8 more witnesses to her claim, detail just how prejudicial and discriminatory the system is for those whānau that have sustained personal injury or those with permanent disability requiring home support.

Evidence shows they receive a poorer standard of care compared to non-Māori from “mainstream” providers. The Crown describes Māori providers as the “gold standard” in caring for Māori.

Yet Māori clients are not being given the choice of a Māori provider. The way the system of procurement is set up by ACC undervalues Māori providers by not enabling them to grow and develop in order to be able to service more Māori clients.

Figures provided by Te Kōhao Health show it delivers ACC home care to only 5 Māori clients out of a database of 8,000 registered clients. Yet at least 15 percent of appointments at Te Kōhao Health have an injury to which whānau are entitled to assistance.

Two of these clients predate the current ACC “limited supplier model” and Te Kōhao Health is the only Māori ACC provider in the Waikato region.

This means that right now there are only 3 Māori people in the whole of the Waikato that have filtered through this limiting model to receive home care from a Māori Provider.

“This is about mana motuhake, by Māori, for Māori. The Hauora Report was unequivocable. It said there must be the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga, equity, active protection, options, and partnership.”

In her brief of evidence Moxon says for 9 years Te Kōhao Health was contracted directly by ACC from 2003. Then in 2012 ACC implemented the “limited supplier model” changing to engaging national and Australian providers.

The impact was immediate. ACC contracts with Māori Providers were cancelled, and they were forced to be subcontractors of these national and Australian providers. Very few Māori now filter through this system to a Māori provider.

“Ten years later we are still in the same boat,” she says.

In 2018 a collective of Māori providers, some of the largest in the country at the time, joined with a large provider which already had a contract with ACC to tender for the new contract round.

That provider won a contract in totality on its own, while its tender with the Māori collective was rated second to last by ACC in the contract round.

“This is an opportune time to reform ACC now that the Māori Health Authority will go live on 1 July. Move resources from ACC across to our new entity to ensure whānau get the support that they need when they need it. Māori should be empowered to care for ourselves, our way.”

© Scoop Media