equity

Equity

Collaborative Aotearoa aims to provide every New Zealander with equitable access to health and wellbeing services across Aotearoa.

We are particularly focused on equitable health and wellbeing outcomes for Māori groups who have previously faced bias when accessing healthcare resources. We are supported by, and continue to embed, Māori input within our practices. It is important to us to strive for health equity to ensure your whānau feel confident and assured when accessing services.

Our commitment in reviewing and enhancing the HCH model of care has been to ensure that it improves patient/whānau care and hauora outcomes. As the model grows and matures, we constantly challenge its contribution to improvement in equity of access and outcomes for those communities in need of additional support, particularly Māori. If the HCH model delivers for Māori, it will deliver for most of our priority communities and ultimately lead to better outcomes for everyone.

We believe all patients should receive excellent health and wellbeing care regardless of their socio-economic, demographic or geographic status.

Whanaungatanga

Whaea Merle talks about the importance of whakawhanangatanga and why it was important to recognise this in the enhanced Model of Care.

Understanding equity

Equity and equality are often misunderstood. There is a difference and it is important to understand this when discussing health and wellbeing outcomes in Aotearoa.

Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.

Equality we can see in the top part of the image is where everyone gets the same size bike. But it only fits one person.

Equality ignores the barriers that exist in the world, which include
• Economic barriers
• Gender barriers
• Geographic barriers
• Aging barriers
• Physical barriers
• Bias, racism & discrimination

Equity gives everyone a bike that fits their individual requirements and opens up opportunities for everyone.

Image credit: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

understanding

Dr Andy Williams,

Feilding Health Care

Doctor Andy Williams at Feilding Health Care believes the HCH model of care works best when the clinician knows their patients. “If you know the patient, you can take the history over the phone, which means you just need to carry out the clinical examination upon arrival. It’s a more efficient way of operating.” One of the requirements of the HCH model, GP triage checks that the GP is available to their patients via phone for a specified time slot each day. This ensures continuity of care and more efficient patient management. The GPs are also encouraged to take ownership of their appointment books so that they have more control over their day, something Andy describes as essential to making the model work. He also believes the introduction of the patient portal re-establishes the patient/doctor relationship, by increasing patients’ direct access to their doctor, however it’s important the Doctor is already familiar with the patient before engaging these services.

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