Editorial: 'institutional racism' of health system hard pill to take

Māori life expectancy at birth remains seven years below that of non-Māori. Photo / 123RF

EDITORIAL:

Two Auckland health officials have delivered a shockingly frank diagnosis of why inequalities stubbornly plague our medical system.

Racism, they said, is mainly to blame for the chasm between the overall health of Māori and Pacific communities and others in New Zealand.

This will be a hard pill to swallow for many — particularly health workers who labour tirelessly to try to improve people's lives.

But Auckland DHB's Alexis Cameron and Sarah McLeod are not trying to argue that doctors, surgeons and nurses are consciously discriminating against patients based on their ethnicity.

Their target, instead, is the "institutional racism" of the health system as a whole.

As Nicholas Jones reports today, the argument goes that the overall design of the system — its very policies and procedures — advantage some ethnic groups while disadvantaging others.

There is no denying health disparities exist in this country.

Most tellingly, Māori life expectancy at birth remains seven years below that of non-Māori.

Although the gap has slowly improved over the past 20 years, successive governments have been unable to produce any meaningful change, regardless of their health budgets.

And it hardly needs to be said that real change is desperately needed if New Zealand wants to continue to think of itself as a country that values equality.

There are no easy solutions but Cameron and McLeod say they are focused on making Auckland DHB the "employer of choice for Māori and Pacific health professionals".

The DHB, last June, began fast-tracking all eligible Māori and Pacific job candidates to the interview stage for any job openings.

The change quickly resulted in more Māori and Pacific candidates being hired.

If there is any hint that this is helping to turn the tide and narrowing health inequalities, other DHBs need to be forced to follow suit.