Monitoring the regulated Māori health workforce

Published online: 
28 April 2011

Summary

The Ministry of Health is responsible for monitoring the number of Māori in the regulated health workforce. This report includes statistics and data about the regulated Māori health workforce.

Occupations covered in this spreadsheet are:

  • medical practitioners
  • nurses
  • midwives
  • dentists
  • physiotherapists
  • psychologists
  • medical radiation technologists
  • dietitians
  • medical laboratory scientists
  • medical laboratory technicians
  • pharmacists
  • optometrists
  • dispensing opticians
  • podiatrists
  • osteopaths
  • chiropractors.

Quick facts about the regulated Māori health workforce

  • In 2009, active Māori medical practitioners represented 3 percent of the medical practitioner workforce (330 out of 11,164). Between 2006 and 2009, the number of active Māori medical practitioners increased from 240 to 330, an increase of 90 or 38% (all active medical practitioners increased from 9547 to 11,164, an increase of 1617 or 17%).
  • In 2009, there were 2803 active Māori nurses. The main employers of active Māori nurses in 2009 were DHBs, employing 1495 or 53 percent of all active Māori nurses.
  • Between 2006 and 2010, the proportion of active Māori midwives was between 6 and 8 percent of the total active midwife workforce. During this time, the number of active Māori midwives increased by 45 or 29% (2006, 153; 2010, 198), while the number of all active midwives increased from 2303 to 2639, an increase of 336 or 15%.
  • In 2008, there were 156 active Māori dentists representing 5 percent of all active dentists (3419). Of the active Māori dentists, 113 (or 72%) were female.
  • In 2010, 4 percent of all active physiotherapists (2485) were Māori (107). Seventy eight (or 73% of) active Māori physiotherapists were female.
  • In 2010, there were 60 active Māori psychologists representing 4 percent of all active psychologists (1346). Forty two (or 70% of) active Māori psychologists were female. The main employers of active Māori psychologists were DHBs (15) and self employed practices (15).
  • Between 2006 and 2010, the proportion of active Māori medical radiation technologists remained around 3 percent of all active medical radiation technologists (2006, 39 out of 1342; 2010, 54 out of 1721). In 2010, the majority of active Māori medical radiation technologists were female (47 or 87%) and 30 (or 56% of) active Māori medical radiation technologists main employers were DHBs.
  • In 2010, there were 16 active Māori dietitians representing 4 percent of all active dietitians (448). Fourteen (or 88% of) active Māori dietitians were female and 10 (or 63% of) active Māori dietitians’ main employer was a DHB.
  • In 2010, Māori active medical laboratory scientists represented 2 percent of all active medical laboratory scientists (22 out of 1312).
  • In 2010, Māori active medical laboratory technicians represented 5 percent of all active medical laboratory technicians (53 out of 1123).
  • In both 2006 and 2010 there were 45 active Māori pharmacists representing less than 2 percent of all active pharmacists (2006, 2801; 2010, 3180).
  • In 2010, Māori active optometrists represented 2 percent of all active optometrists (10 out of 542).
  • In 2010, Māori active dispensing optometrists represented 2 percent of all active dispensing optometrists (3 out of 157).
  • Between 2006 and 2010, the number of active Māori podiatrists increased from 6 to 12 (all active podiatrists increased from 150 to 173). In 2010, 8 (or 67% of) active Māori podiatrists were female.
  • Between 2006 and 2010, the number of active Māori osteopaths increased from 5 to 7 (all active osteopaths from 252 to 281).
  • Between 2006 and 2010, the number of active Māori chiropractors increased from 4 to 12 (all active chiropractors from 236 to 321).

Sources of workforce data

The data in this report is from workforce surveys of the regulated health workforce. Each year, the governing board of each health profession sends the survey with the invoice for an annual practising certificate or annual licence to everyone who has requested a certificate or licence.

This report contains data about health professionals who were active in their professions in New Zealand. For a health professional to be defined as ‘active’ they must:

  • hold a current annual practicing certificate or annual license
  • have reported in their respective workforce survey that they are working in their profession in New Zealand.

Any professional who answered at least one question in the survey about their employment setting, their work type or the hours they worked has been included in the data for that person’s professional group.

In some occupations, survey data was not available for all years. This information will be updated each year as the data become available.

Ethnicity

The data presented compares Māori with non-Māori. For data from surveys, prioritized ethnicity was used. A person was classified as Māori if any one of their recorded ethnicities was Māori. So for Māori, prioritised and total response output was the same. All other people were recorded as non-Māori.

Data revised

The data provided in the spreadsheet Māori health workforce occupations has been revised so it may differ to what has previously been published.

Publishing information

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