Maori fail in health follow-ups

By ANGELA GREGORY health reporter

A survey of Maori who fail to keep outpatient clinic appointments in South Auckland shows nearly half could not get there, mainly because of transport problems.

The Maori Cultural Resource Unit survey for Counties Manukau Health also showed that 37 per cent of 151 patients said they could not afford to attend, half of them lacking the bus fare. Counties Manukau Health estimates non-attendance could cost it up to $3 million a year, and more Maori skip appointments than any other ethnic group.

The total number of outpatient appointments for the year to last June was 128,573. Non-attendances were 18,316.

The Maori non-attendance rate was 23 per cent, compared with 20 per cent for Pacific Island patients, 8 per cent for Asian patients and 7 per cent for Europeans.

Researchers said there were no cultural reasons for the differences. The most common reason Maori patients gave was that they did not have the correct information.

Within that group, which represented 69 per cent of the Maori patients, the main reason most gave was forgetting about the appointment or getting the date or time mixed up.

The next most common reason, from 46 per cent of the patients, was that they could not get there, with just under half saying they did not have a car or could not get public or hospital transport.

A third said they did not have anyone to help them look after their dependants. Others said they could not get time off work.

Of the sample, 37 per cent also said they lacked the financial resources to attend.

Almost half of the patients in that group said they did not have money for the bus.

Of the 85 patients aged over 15, only 19 were in paid employment.

Twenty-six were beneficiaries, 19 said they were mothers or housewives and 10 were students.

The report recommends a number of changes, such as checking the patient has access to transport and, where necessary, ensuring that arrangements are made to supervise dependants.