New Zealand has cracked the 1000 daily cases mark on the first day of the country moving to phase two of the Government’s Omicron response. Video / NZ Herald
Some Māori healthcare providers in Tāmaki Makaurau may have to reduce their services to continue supporting whānau in home isolation due to months-long funding delays.
Now, the heads of two high profile providers are pleading for more resources as growing Omicron cases threaten to overwhelm services, including Covid-19 testing and vaccination.
South Auckland providers Papakura Marae and Turuki Health Care began caring for whānau isolating at home towards the end of last year, after Auckland's health officials asked who had capacity to provide the necessary clinical and welfare support.
As often happens, providers started the mahi before contracts were finalised, with the understanding funding would be confirmed soon after.
Now in mid-February, both providers had poured staffing and financial resources into helping whānau but had no indication when they would be funded for their work.
A Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre spokesperson refused to comment on contract conversations, citing commercial sensitivity, except to say discussions were ongoing.
Turuki Health Care registered nurses Jo Thorne and Tasha Rukuata working at their testing station in Māngere. Photo / NZME
Since December, Turuki Health Care staff had been providing clinical and welfare support to whānau in home isolation - nurses making home visits, referring whānau to hospital if they became ill, checking if financial assistance was needed and more.
Chief executive Te Puea Winiata said it was "appalling" providers had waited months for funding and noted the delays had locked out smaller providers from doing the same mahi.
"A lot of Māori providers would love to participate, but they can't carry the cost of increasing their staff without any confidence that we're going to get paid for the work," she said.
In contrast, Winiata praised the Ministry of Social Development for how quickly it had released funding so providers could offer welfare support.
Had funding for the clinical component been provided earlier, providers could have had staff trained and ready to facilitate home isolation support.
Food is a key support for whānau isolating at home. Photo / Michael Craig
Without the funding, Winiata said she was forced to pull staff from other areas to ensure that support continued.
This, coupled with supply issues for rapid antigen tests and personal protective equipment, placed Turuki Health Care's ability to continue providing key services in jeopardy.
"The question is, which [service] do you give up?" Winiata said.
"We don't feel confident that we'll be able to deliver services in the near future unless those supply issues are addressed."
Asked what health officials had to say on the funding issue, Winiata claimed what she was being told was not helpful.
"I have to say, no one has told me anything that helps me understand a timeframe, no one has given me any assurance that they're close, they say they're still working on it."
It was much the same for Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake, who could only guess why the issue hadn't been sorted, suspecting it was low on the priority list for Auckland's health officials.
Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake. Photo / Michael Craig
As at Tuesday, marae staff were supporting 32 positive cases but including their whānau, that number increased to about 160 people.
With no funding for about four months, resources at the marae's primary care clinic and food bank had been drawn down, potentially compromising the marae's ability to provide support for those in their community.
"We support families in isolation and with them tripling overnight, I need to know that we're going to get funded for doing that," he said.
"We're not a bank, I need to pay bills."
Papakura Marae has been a vital resource for those in South Auckland to get tested and vaccinated. Photo / Dean Purcell
Kake urged health officials to allow providers easier access to funding so they could react appropriately to growing case numbers.
"We need to move towards partnership where you trust us that we know what we're doing."
Taumata Kōrero is a network of Māori health providers, marae, iwi, hapū, kura kaupapa, kōhanga reo, whānau ora and housing providers with vision over 200,000 whānau Māori.
Chairman Huri Dennis questioned the equity of Māori providers going without funding while a new vaccination centre was set up at The Cloud on Auckland's waterfront this month.
"The response system has now gone into stage two relying on an 'electronic pathway' and transitioned to self-service and automation. Yet how does this model support vulnerable whānau given there are accessibility challenges?
"This is about activating the protection principle of Te Tiriti [Treaty of Waitangi] to enable us to front-load whānau Māori households in the largest population area of Aotearoa with kai, rongoā Māori and mainstream medicine right now before anyone gets sick."
