New way of working designed to foster better mental wellbeing outcomes for Māori

Hon Peeni Henare
Associate Minister of Health (Māori)

22 March 2021

Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare, says creating new ways of procuring services for Māori mental wellbeing will make a significant difference to Māori over time.

“Māori have poorer mental health and addiction outcomes and we need to develop services that are designed by Māori, for Māori,” Peeni Henare said.

The Ministry of Health has brought together eleven Teina kaupapa Māori primary mental health and addiction service providers to focus on the development of dedicated Māori mental health outcomes.

Successful respondents have been split into two streams. The Tuakana stream is for larger, established Māori providers with well-developed infrastructure and services. The Teina stream is an incubator stream for smaller or newly-established Māori providers with proposals that are developed but would benefit from further support to get them contract and service delivery-ready.

This is part of a new procurement process that invests in time and innovation. It was designed after feedback from Māori that typical procurement processes do not set Māori organisations up for success.

“The Government listened and instead ran a much more flexible procurement process which enabled people to use different methods for submitting their ideas, including video.”

“We found that there were some very promising proposals from the providers who registered their interest in the Teina stream. They were well linked within their local communities but needed more support to get to a contract stage.

“This is one way to make sure we are continuing to develop capability and invest time in developing new providers.

“By doing this we are demonstrating how dedicated we are to collaborative design, and sharing knowledge, rather than having providers competing against each other.”

As well as an opportunity for whanaungatanga, the wānanga is to share information on service design, capacity management, governance, managing risk, service implementation and contract management.

“It’s really exciting to see the progress being made and the different approach that is being taken. This is a significant step in delivering positive outcomes for Māori and I know it will make a big difference for our people.”

The Ministry of Health will work with providers in the Teina stream to provide assistance and development throughout the procurement process. There are still more phases to work through, and it may be that not all eleven proposals are successful in this procurement round.

Announcements about new services resulting from the Tuakana stream are expected in the coming weeks.

 

Last updated: Monday, March 22, 2021