Statement on cultural safety and He Ara Hauora Māori: A Pathway to Māori Health Equity
We’re pleased to announce the release of our Statement on cultural safety and its associated resource He Ara Hauora Māori: A Pathway to Māori Health Equity.
We developed these resources in partnership with Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa (Te ORA), taking expert advice from taumata, academics and medical professionals. We consulted widely with the profession and key stakeholders including holding two national symposia on cultural safety and health equity.
The Statement on cultural safety provides doctors and healthcare organisations with Council's expectations of culturally safe practice and how this can be incorporated into clinical work and more broadly across healthcare services.
The associated resource He Ara Hauora Māori: A Pathway to Māori Health Equity provides more specific guidance on how doctors and healthcare organisations can support the achievement of best health outcomes for Māori and develop and support the Māori medical workforce.
Doctors are professionally obligated to deliver healthcare equitably to all. We believe these resources will provide doctors with a strong basis to achieve this most important of goals.
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This statement outlines what cultural safety means and why it is important. The document reflects the evolution of thinking away from the cultural competence of doctors – that is acquiring skills and knowledge of other cultures – towards self-reflection of a doctor’s own attitudes and biases that may affect the cultural safety of patients. Council requires doctors to meet these cultural safety standards.
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Māori experience disparities in outcomes compared to the rest of the population across nearly all areas of health due to inequity in determinants of health, including access to quality health care. This document outlines Council’s position on how doctors can support the achievement of best health outcomes for Māori. It also provides guidance for healthcare organisations to support cultural safety and Māori health equity. This document should be read in conjunction with Council’s Statement on cultural safety.
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Council, in partnership with Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa (Te ORA), jointly hosted a highly successful symposium on cultural competence, partnership and health equity on 25 June 2019. The theme of the symposium was Mahia te mahi, hei painga mō te iwi, Getting the job done for the wellbeing of the people. The event aimed to investigate ways of working together to improve cultural safety in order to work towards eliminating health inequities. This booklet brings together the presentations and whakaaro shared at the symposium.