Health Services and Outcomes Inquiry
The Health Services and Outcomes Inquiry (Wai 2575) will hear all claims concerning grievances relating to health services and outcomes and which are of national significance.
Panel members
The Wai 2575 Tribunal panel consists of:
- Judge Damian Stone (Presiding Officer)(external link)
- Professor Susy Frankel
- Professor Tom Roa
- Tania Simpson
- Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Inquiry progress
In December 2017, the Tribunal confirmed that the Wai 2575 Inquiry would proceed on a phased and thematic basis, with health-related issues heard in stages according to priority:
- Stage one, which concluded in March 2019, inquired into aspects of primary care
- Stage two covers three priority areas encompassing Māori with disabilities, mental health (including suicide and self-harm), and issues of alcohol, tobacco, and substance abuse
- Stage three will focus on remaining themes of national significance, including eligible historical claims
Stage one
The stage one inquiry was a discrete and targeted inquiry into the legislative and policy framework of the primary healthcare system. The inquiry was presided over by Judge Stephen Clark. Those proceedings were confined to hearing the Māori Primary Health Organisations & Providers (Wai 1315) and the National Hauora Coalition (Wai 2687) claims. Interested parties were also granted varying degrees of participation in the inquiry.
Following hearings held from 2018 to 2019, the Tribunal released its pre-publication version of Hauora – the Report on Stage One of the Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry (the Hauora Report) on 1 July 2019.
The final version of the Hauora Report was released on 19 October 2021, following a two-year period in which parties reported back to the Tribunal regarding progress on the implementation of its interim recommendations.
COVID-19 priority inquiry
In November 2021 the Tribunal re-allocated hearing one of the disability phase of the stage two inquiry to enable a priority inquiry into the COVID-19 Protection Framework. The priority hearing took place from 6 to 10 December 2021 at the Tribunal’s offices in Wellington.
The Tribunal released Haumaru: the COVID-19 Priority Report in pre-publication format on 20 December 2021.
Stage two
Casebook research
As a result of the pre-casebook discussion paper (a Tribunal Unit assessment of the evidence required for the stage two inquiry), the Tribunal commissioned four reports for stage two:
- Māori mental health including suicide and self-harm (Wai 2575, #2.3.6(external link))
- Issues of alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse for Māori (Wai 2575, #2.3.2(external link))
- Māori with disabilities (part one) (Wai 2575, #2.3.3(external link))
- Māori with disabilities (part two) (Wai 2575, #2.3.4(external link))
Both reports concerning Māori with disabilities were filed on 28 June 2019 (Wai 2575, #B22(external link); Wai 2575, #B23(external link)), and the report concerning Māori mental health was filed on 30 August 2019 (Wai 2575, #B26).(external link) The report concerning issues of alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse for Māori was released on 20 December 2019 (#B30(external link)).
The Crown-funded research report modules on Māori Health Trends 1990–2015 were filed in February and March 2019. The Tribunal has also received the following Crown-funded research reports:
- Māori Health Disability Statistical Status Report (Wai 2575, #B24(external link))
- Oranga and Māori Health Inequities, 1769–1992 (Wai 2575, #B25(external link))
Inquiry into Māori with lived experience of disability (phase one)
In October 2019 the Tribunal confirmed it would hear and report on all claims relating to disability as phase one of the stage two inquiry. The Tribunal Statement of Issues, which sets out the scope for the inquiry, was confirmed on 23 September 2021 (Wai 2575, #1.4.2).
An accessibility protocol, which provides general guidelines and procedures to enhance the accessibility of the inquiry for participants, was adopted in September 2021 (Wai 2575, #2.6.59(a)).
Hearings, which began in March 2022, are now well advanced and have been held in the following locations:
- Hearing one (14 – 18 March 2022) via audio-visual link (AVL)
- Hearing two (2 – 4 May 2022) via audio-visual link (AVL)
- Hearing three (29 August – 2 September 2022) via audio-visual link (AVL)
- Hearing four (14 – 18 November 2022) via audio-visual link (AVL)
- Hearing five (20 – 24 March 2023) at Papakura Marae in Auckland
- Hearing six (19 – 23 June 2023) at the Tribunal’s offices in Wellington
- Hearing seven (21 – 25 August 2023) at Papakura Marae in Auckland
Hearing eight, the final claimant evidence hearing, is scheduled for 20 to 24 November 2023 at the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Bay of Islands in Paihia.
A Crown evidence hearing is scheduled for March 2024.
Document requests:
For all document requests for this inquiry, email: WT_Requests@justice.govt.nz
Inquiry requests:
For all inquiry related requests, email: WT.Registrar@justice.govt.nz
Please direct all media inquiries to the Tribunal's Registrar wt.registrar@justice.govt.nz
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