Māori a third more likely to be admitted with treatment injuries

Māori are a third more likely to be admitted to hospital with injuries resulting from healthcare, either in primary care or hospital.

Māori are a third more likely to be admitted to hospital with treatment injuries and 43 percent more likely to be admitted because of healthcare complications than non-Māori according to new research.

The research reviewed hospital records from the Lakes and Bay of Plenty regions over five years (2014 to 2018) and covering around 300 treatment injury patients and almost 14,000 people admitted with complications, all over 50 years of age.

“There is always the potential for adverse outcomes to occur when you receive any healthcare,” says co-author and pharmacist Dr Joanna Hikaka. “Our research showed Māori older adults were more likely to experience adverse outcomes than non-Māori.

“We believe it is important for the New Zealand health system to routinely report adverse outcomes resulting from healthcare and respond when there are differences in outcomes between different groups in the population” Dr Hikaka says.

Treatment injuries, also known as medical misadventure, include the likes of unintentional cuts and punctures during surgery, while complications of healthcare, include infections and reactions to medicines.

Although older Māori were more likely than older non-Māori to be admitted to hospital because of all of these issues, Māori living in the same regions were less likely to have a treatment injury-related ACC claim.

Researchers are calling for a transparent, publicly available monitoring and reporting system so that the health system and providers can respond.

Dr Gina Svensen, lead author of this paper and a junior doctor at Christchurch hospital said, “Our findings highlight inadequacies in the provision of quality healthcare for Māori and prompt further investigation of this at a national level.

“The health system reform provides an opportunity to improve monitoring and reporting of adverse outcomes in healthcare in New Zealand.

“As health professionals, this knowledge can inform and facilitate changes in our practice to address inequities in healthcare for patients across New Zealand.”

More than half of healthcare complications for both Māori and non-Māori related to medications. An example of this might be when a medication used to treat high blood pressure is too strong and leads to very low blood pressure, falls, and injury.

Dr Hikaka said, “As we get older, the way medicines act and react in our body’s changes.

Medication reviews that involve discussions between patients and their health professionals can reduce the risk of adverse outcomes and are an important part of ongoing care particularly as people age.”

The researchers at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland are currently working in partnership with Te Arawa Whānau Ora Collective to explore how paeārahi (Whānau Ora navigators) can support koeke (older Māori) to prevent unintentional injuries and to access injury-related care.

Hariata Vercoe, general manager at Korowai Aroha Health Centre in Rotorua, and one of the research investigators says “Paeārahi have been established in the Te Arawa Whānau Ora Collective for over 10 years now, and are great connectors, advisors, navigators and advocates working alongside whānau.

“We now have paeārahi who specialise in injury care which has been of great benefit to koeke.”

The results from the formal evaluation of this service are expected later in the year.