Kotahi te kākano; He nui ngā hua o te rākau.
‘A tree appears from one seed but bears many fruit.’
Strategy
The Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa Strategy recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as its overarching guide, supported by interconnected themes of improving equity, strengthening partnership and connectiveness. Recruitment of, and supporting a culturally responsive workforce with the skills and resources to implement a nationally consistent model of care, standards of practice, and quality of service is the key outcome we aim for.
We believe this approach will improve opportunities for taitamariki in Aotearoa to flourish in terms of their health and wellness. We acknowledge whānau are at the core of Māori society.
Our Organisation
Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa membership includes over 650 people from a range of specialities and disciplines. Our members are involved in the healthcare of taitamariki and rangatahi across the motu. They work in a range of specialities and settings including primary care, secondary care, through to tertiary services.
The Society includes Clinical Networks and Special Interest Groups which span Aotearoa’s child health specialist services. We are very well connected with key players in national organisations such as the National Child Cancer Network and hospital-based services such as Starship. We have a track record of delivering top quality outcomes but intend to engage more meaningfully with Māori leadership to create more equitable outcomes for Māori.
Our Actions
Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa programmes include:
- The New Zealand Child and Youth Clinical Networks, funded by a Te Whatu Ora contract. Networks deliver quality improvement initiatives such as clinical practice recommendations, tools to promote workforce development, resources, and recommendations forimplementing change. They also link to KidsHealth to ensure messaging for whānau is delivered consistently, and resonates with target populations.
- Special Interest Groups provide an informal mechanism for people with common interests in child health improvement to come together, discuss ideas, and promote quality improvement. They are enabled by mechanisms within Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa to share information, develop submissions, and influence change.
- KidsHealth is a Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa service that provides accurate and reliable child health information for parents, caregivers, family and whānau. KidsHealth was founded in partnership with the Starship Foundation, is funded through a Te Whatu Ora contract, and currently is in a collaboration with other providers of whānau health information working towards a national health content hub. It is supported by an Advisory Group. They ensure nationally consistent messaging is delivered utilising the most appropriate people and format.
- In addition, our Education and Innovation Funds are available to provide financial support to members who have ideas about improving the health and wellbeing of taitamariki and rangitahi.
Our Approach
Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa has a role as a national leadership organisation to influence outcomes for taitamariki and rangatahi. We will achieve this by promoting change through collective thinking across the sector. We are seeking to turn Te Tiriti o Waitangi into action and continue to work to improve outcomes and equity for taitamariki Māori across the motu. We are building partnerships to enable cohesive collaborative ways of working both across systems and at the personal level when working with whānau.
We work closely with child health services nationally including Starship and share a desire to develop and implement a mokopuna-centric child health focus under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) reforms. This includes combining bio-medical science and mātauranga Māori to deliver and maintain child health and wellbeing.
We have formed a Māori rōpu for child health professionals, providing an opportunity for peer support, advocacy and career development.
In order to progress our strategy, we have a Māori Director to partner with our executive (Wane Wharerau - Ngāpuhi). We also have a Programme Manager Te Tiriti and Equity to help transform our programme of work and to assist with the development of our people (Jontel Kiwi Kiwi - Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Wai, Ngāpuhi).