Leading healthcare provider ProCare, has announced that it is combining its Māori Advisory Committee, colloquially known as ProMa, into its Health (PHO) Limited Board with immediate effect.

Today’s announcement is about ensuring that all current and future decisions at a PHO Board level uphold the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Tevita Funaki, Chair of the PHO Board says: “Prior to ProCare making a commitment to an equity strategy and to Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles in 2001, we needed a separate committee to help guide the Board and to ensure that we were heading in the right direction from a Te Ao Māori perspective.

“Since then, we have re-shaped the PHO Board, made new appointments, and gone on a journey of learning. We now ensure that we have an equity lens over every governance decision that we make,” continues Funaki.

“Today’s announcement is another step on that journey, and is about incorporating the required leadership and expertise in Te Ao Māori and advocacy in hauora for tangata whenua directly at the Board table,” he continues.

“This move will strengthen and enhance the focus of tangata whenua population health needs at a governance level. We were all too aware that the Māori Advisory Committee was not able to achieve this through an advisory role only, and therefore, the PHO Board sees this is a significant shift in upholding the mana of Te Tiriti,” concludes Funaki.

It is anticipated that in due course ProCare’s Pacific Advisory Committee will also be incorporated into the PHO Board.

You can view the PHO Board here.