Barriers and facilitators for Māori in accessing hospital services in Aotearoa New Zealand.

AIM

This paper reports the findings of a literature review to answer the research question, "What are the barriers and facilitators of access to hospital services for Māori?"

METHOD

MEDLINE (Ovid) and PsycINFO were searched using keywords to identify relevant literature published between 2000 and 2020. The data analysis was informed by a Kaupapa Māori positioning and the CONSIDER statement on reporting of health research involving Indigenous peoples.

RESULTS

Twenty-three papers met the inclusion criteria. We identified five themes that captured the barriers for Māori accessing hospital services (practical barriers, poor communication, hostile healthcare environment, primary care barriers and racism) and five facilitatory themes were identified (practical facilitators, whakawhanaungatanga, whānau, manaakitanga and cultural safety).

CONCLUSION

This article confirms existing knowledge about practical barriers and facilitators to healthcare access for Māori and contributes to an emerging body of evidence about the impact of racism and culturally unsafe services in preventing Māori from accessing healthcare services. The facilitators identified provide a potential roadmap for the redesign of services so they are accessible and effective for Māori. Improving services in this way would support district health boards, the Ministry of Health and professional organisations to comply with their commitments to providing culturally safe services and health professionals.