News release

From: New Zealand Medical Journal

Many Māori with long-term health conditions often come to hospital with serious social problems, such as not having enough food, heating or stable housing, or not getting the income support they are entitled to. The research team spoke to people working in different health settings who said that Māori often struggled to get clear information and support from the welfare system. Because the health and welfare systems are complicated, hard to access and not set up to promote fairness,
many Māori patients were on the wrong type of welfare support. Others stopped trying to get help because the process was too difficult, and those who needed the most support often found it even harder. Healthcare providers don’t have enough funding, staff or resources to help patients get welfare support, so to fix this, health, welfare and other sectors need to work together in a more coordinated and fair way.