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By Ashleigh McCaull of RNZ There’s been a massive growth in people choosing to use traditional Māori healing practices as part of their rehabilitation through the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). ACC research shows Māori are two-and-a-half times more likely to sustain a serious injury than non-Māori. ACC’s head of Māori health partnerships Eldon Paea said its data showed since June 2020 it went from only one client for rongoā Māori to about 9000.

“We have a focus on wanting to improve health services, our data is showing that we need to do something different. Māori are 35 per cent less likely to make a claim but when they do make a claim they’re less likely to access the very services that they’re entitled to. “Māori are about 17 per cent of the population but when we look at new claims, they only make up 12.



5 per cent ...

There’s a whole list of barriers but some of the key ones are access to services, especially in rural communities ...

There were no culturally aligned or tikanga-based options in their portfolio of care and also previous experiences where they just felt put off,” Paea said. ACC said rongoā Māori was accessed in claims prior to June 2020 but there was lack of clarity over where it sat within ACC’s frameworks which led to inconsistent approvals. Around 59 per cent of people using the services are Māori while the other 41 per cent are non-Māori.

Rongoā Māori claims have almost doubled in the last year, wit.

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