This resource booklet is designed to assist branch advisory bodies and doctors in meeting cultural competence requirements of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA), and to address the health inequalities affecting Maori.
The booklet will complement the Medical Council of New Zealand (the Council)’s Statement on best practices when providing care to Maori patients and their whanau, and Statement on cultural competence. The goal of this booklet is to help doctors to achieve greater awareness of the cultural diversity and the place of Maori in New Zealand, and to assist in incorporating cultural competence for Maori into continuing education activities, recertification and practice activities such as medical audits.
The material provides both general guidance on Maori cultural preferences and specific examples around key issues. It is hoped that Maori specific cultural competencies will be developed in a framework of self-awareness so that doctors will be able to recognise their own values and attitudes, as well as the impact of these on their practices.
