Pharmac looking to bridge gap between Māori and Pasifika communities

Pharmac is assuring significant changes to its systems and policies following a damning independent review of the agency.

Pharmac chair Steve Maharey and chief executive Sarah Fitt fronted a panel this morning to discuss progress of the 33 recommended changes made in the review, released in June.

The panel of independent experts, chaired by Sue Chetwin, found Pharmac must secure equitable outcomes for all New Zealanders, especially for Māori, Pacific and disabled people.

The duo said issues such as racial health disparities had been known for a long time and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Pharmac was looking to bridge the gap between Māori and Pasifika communities.

Pharmac said it was becoming more transparent and ensuring a consumer voice with genuine public engagement.

“Pharmac’s 29-year history is not one of doing things wrongs, it is an appropriate change in the environment which has begun to cause the changes,” Maharey said.

It took a number of learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic and had shown how it could run its clinical advisory network more efficiently, he said.

“We have been able to fund eight Covid treatments within a few months and we were able to do that very quickly, our advisory committee were meeting monthly and they were turning around decisions very quickly.”

Another criticism from the review was people with rare disorders having disproportionately negative health outcomes due to systemic failings.

Maharey and Fitt said they had been proactively seeking applications from suppliers to alleviate this trend.