Historic gifting of Rotorua Medical Centre to iwi ‘uncharted waters but the right thing to do’

Mapihi Raharui, chair of Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Pikiao Trust and member of the Te Arawa Iwi Māori Partnership Board, and Justin Butcher, CEO of Pinnacle. Photo / Supplied

An extraordinary gifting of Ōwhata Medical centre by a mainstream not-for-profit primary health organisation to Rotorua iwi Ngāti Pikiao has broken new ground in Aotearoa.

“This is the first time a GP practice has ever been gifted in Te Arawa and a PHO is visibly seen to apply kotahitanga with iwi,” said Mapihi Raharuhi, chair of Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Pikiao Trust and member of the Te Arawa Iwi Māori Partnership Board at the official handover at Pounamanui (Houmaitawhiti) Marae.

Ngāti Pikiao Health Services and Ōwhata Medical Centre now join as one. Pinnacle through its practice management arm, has owned the practice for more than five years. Prior to that it was owned by Dr John Armstrong, who iwi consider a “generational doctor” in their rohe. He was present at the pōwhiri.

Justin Butcher, CEO of Pinnacle, said, “Today, it is a really humbling emotional experience for us. For me, this is quite a personal thing. From a Pinnacle perspective, we’ve never done anything like this in our history and it’s uncharted waters for us.”

He acknowledged the strength of leadership by Ngāti Pikiao with Pinnacle that started seven years ago and his commitments, both personally and professionally, “that we will do the right thing by the community and by the practice”.

“While this is the next step in the journey of our relationship, it’s not the destination,” Butcher said.

Te Ururoa Flavell. Photo / Supplied

Dr Grace Malcolm, the chair of Te Arawa Iwi Māori Partnership Board and GP for Ngāti Pikiao Health Services under the umbrella of Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Pikiao, praised Pinnacle for partnering its expertise, experience, and considerable networks with iwi to further resource and implement whānau voice priorities.

“They’ve lifted the game for all primary health organisations in the health reforms. The iwi PHO model is a powerful one,” Malcolm said.

She affirmed how “Pinnacle saw the bigger picture” and was forward thinking. It has relationships with iwi in Taranaki, Ngāti Porou, Waikato, Tuwharetoa and now, Te Arawa.

“Pinnacle understand the drive in the current health reforms to empower whānau voice priorities and iwi-driven solutions. This is an opportunity to give voice to those and challenges within all systems,” she said.

Cultural advisor and consultant TeUruroa Flavell acknowledged Pinnacle for getting into a relationship with iwi Māori, and not being scared.

“There’s nothing but good that comes from a relationship with our people,” he said.

“When people talk about co-governance and very worried about giving anything to Māori, much less, what is our right – it’s something that people do not do. Why? Because they’re scared that they’ll lose something, or that the Māoris will take over everything, or that things will only be for Māori.

“When in fact in our experience throughout Covid and history is because of places like this marae, we are about supporting anyway and looking out for the people because that’s what happens on our marae.

“So anybody that comes to the door, we don’t discriminate and say no Pākehā go left and everybody else gets kai, it doesn’t work like that. We look after all people and will continue to look after all people in the years ahead, despite the current political rhetoric, as soon as this country gets use to that idea the better.”

Flavell, currently undergoing chemotherapy and hormone treatment after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, reflected on the huge importance of Hauora.

“So we have a vested interest to ensure that when we go into relationship especially because whakapapa and whakawhaungatanga is in our DNA, that we make sure that we do it right because our people are watching and our people are waiting, and our people need this sort of stuff to happen.

“Don’t be scared of Māori, they’re actually nice people.”