Otago District Health Board chief executive Brian Rousseau has concerns over measures aimed at improving the health of Maori in Otago.
He says if the board is serious about improving Maori health it needs to go back to Maori and reflect on what has been achieved, explore what could have been done better and agree on a plan for the future.
In a report to go before the board today, Mr Rousseau refers to the 2003 memorandum of understanding between the board and ka Papatipu Runaka (a group representing four southern tribal councils).
The document objectives involve the two parties working together to identify Maori health needs, agreeing on services and targets and monitoring the effectiveness of services.
Mr Rousseau said while the principles agreed remained laudable, and the intentions noble, some of the agreed commitments had not been met.
He recommends the board request a meeting with the runaka in Otago as soon as possible.
There has been concern at board level for some time at the lack of a Maori health manager, a position which has been vacant since last July.
In April this year, board senior contract manager Carol Gray told the Otago Daily Times the absence of a person in this position had affected the board's ability to plan for the future of Maori health services. It had also limited the relationship between the board and community leaders.
Consultation with Maori over the possibility of a Maori health manager position covering both Otago and Southland boards was suggested earlier in the year, but no outcome of this has yet been reported.
In Southland, five priority areas have been identified for Maori health: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, smoking, oral health and childhood obesity.
Southland board Maori health programme director Erina Rewi said difficulties in either collecting or extracting data meant it remained unknown if any initiatives were making a difference to Maori health in Southland.
This was not an issue unique to the Southland board, and the Ministry of Health was continuing to improve data availability, she said.
