Call for applications for the National Mortality Review Committee

Any information – data, stories, the tears shed by whānau – about the lives of people who have died prematurely is about knowing that these people have passed too soon. Their lives, their potential and the generations that may have borne their whakapapa have been foreshortened. In mortality review, we are charged with looking back to understand what was going on for those who have died. Guiding this work is the hope that, going forward, we – the communities and systems that support people’s lives – can be at our most helpful and supportive, and that we do better. 

Mortality review must start with a love and respect for the dignity and humanity of all people. This will mean illuminating the way that current systems continue to provide benefit for some, while at the same time unfairly disadvantaging others, contributing to the entrenched inequities we see across preventable mortality.[i],[ii]

The Health Quality & Safety Commission is seeking applications for the inaugural National Mortality Review Committee (NMRC). The NMRC is being established as part of changes to the national mortality review function, which include establishing a single national mortality review committee supported by subject matter expert groups.  

Changes to the function are designed to enable a more agile and flexible mortality review function that is more responsive to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with the ability to look across all areas of mortality, prioritising specific classes for review.  

The changes will support the Commission’s focus on reducing preventable mortality and addressing the current inequities that exist across preventable mortality. The NMRC will operate as the primary advisor on mortality review to the Commission, reviewing and reporting on specified classes of death, with the aim of reducing preventable deaths. 

NMRC members will be appointed by the Commission under section 82(1) of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 (the Act). The NMRC will be stood up from 1 July 2023.  

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of mortality review in New Zealand.  

Applicants’ skills and understanding

We are seeking applicants who will bring a relational approach to interacting and communicating with others. Strategic system-wide thinking, the ability to understand the practical application of Te Tiriti in mortality review, and an understanding of the causes and consequences of inequities across society will be essential for this role. Lived experience will also be a key element of the Committee’s overall make up. 

How to apply

We welcome you to share what you would bring to the role and how your previous experience would add value to the national mortality review function. 

Please complete the application form here  and upload your curriculum vitae and a covering letter.  

More information, including the Terms of Reference for the NMRC, can be found on the Commission’s Review of the National Mortality Review Function webpage.  

Applications close on Friday 28 April 2023.  

Ahakoa te mōhiohio – he raraunga, he kōrero paki, ngā roimata i tangihia ai e ngā whānau – mō te oranga o ngā tāngata i mate tōtata ai kia mōhio pū he matenga porokere. Ko ō rātou oranga, tō rātou pito mata me ngā reanga whai whakapapa kua motu. Ko tā te arotake matenga he titiro whakamuri kia mārama ki ō o rātou āhuatanga kua ngaro atu. Ko te tūmanako i a mātou e koni whakamua ana, ko tā mātou – ngā hapori me ngā pūnaha e tautoko ana i te oranga tangata – he āwhina, he tautoko, ā, kia tino pai ake ā mātou mahi.

Me mātua tīmata te arotakenga matenga i te aroha me te whakaute ki te mana me te ira o te tangata. Mā te whakaatu i ngā mahi a ngā pūnaha o āianei e whaihua ai ētahi, ā, e noho huakore ētahi atu, nā konei te mana taurite kore e kitea ai e tātou i ngā āhuatanga hei aukati mate.[i],[ii]

Kei te rapu tono a Kupu Taurangi Hauora o Aotearoa mō te Komiti Arotake Matenga ā-Motu tuatahi. Kei te whakatūria te komiti hei wāhanga o ngā panoninga ki te kawenga o te komiti arotake matenga ā-motu e tautokona ana e ngā rōpū mātanga o tēnā kaupapa me tēnā.

Mā ngā panoninga mahi ka ngāwari, ka raka te mahi arotake kia kaha ake te whakamana i Te Tiriti o Waitangi, me te āhei anō hoki ki te titiro whānui ki ngā wāhanga matenga, me te noho tōmua ngā tino momo hei arotake.

Ka tautoko ngā panoninga i tā te Komihana arotahi hei whakaiti i ngā matenga ka taea me te whakatikatika i ngā mana taurite kore o āianei. Ka tū te Komiti Arotake Matenga hei kaitohutohu matua mō te arotake matenga ki te Komihana, e arotake ana me te tuku pūrongo mō ngā momo matenga, me te aha, ka iti haere ngā matenga ka taea te aukati.

Ka whakatūria ngā mema o te Komiti Arotake Matenga e te Komihana i raro i te wāhanga 82(1) o te Ture Pae Ora 2022. Ka tū ake hei te 1 o Hōngongoi 2023.

He whai wāhitanga hiamo tēnei hei āwhina kia whakaritea te arotake matenga i Aotearoa mō āpōpō.

Ngā pūkenga me te mōhio o te kaitono

E rapu ana mātou i ngā kaitono ka hari mai ko tōna tirohanga whakawhanaungatanga hei kōrerorero me ētahi atu. He whakaaro rautaki ā-pūnaha whānui tōna, he mārama ki Te Tiriti ki roto ki te arotake matenga, ā, he mārama anō hoki ki ngā pūtake me ngā hua o te mana taurite kore puta noa i te pāpori ngā pūkenga mō tēnei tūranga. Ko te wheako tūturu tētahi tino wāhanga o te hanga o te komiti.

Hei tono

Nau mai tō kupu whakamahuki mō tāhau ki tēnei tūranga hou, ā, ka pēhea hoki ōu wheako o mua e whakakaha ake i te mahi a te arotake matenga ā-motu. 

Tēnā, whakaotia te puka tono i konei me uta atu hoki tō tātai pūmanawa me tētahi reta. 

He mōhiohio atu anō, tae atu ki Ngā Paearu Mahi mō NMRC kei te pae ipurangi Arotakenga o te Mahi Arotake Matenga a te Komihana. 

Ka aukatia ngā tono hei te Rāmere te 28 o Paengawhāwhā 2023. 

Footnotes | Kupu tāpiri 

[i] Ngā Pou Arawhenua, Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee, Suicide Mortality Review Committee (2020) Te Mauri, The Life Force. Rangitahi Suicide Report. Published in March 2020 by the Health Quality & Safety Commission | Kupu Taurangi Hauora o Aotearoa, Wellington, New Zealand. From https://www.hqsc.govt.nz/assets/Our-work/Mortality-review-committee/SuMRC/Publications-resources/TeMauriTheLifeForce_final.pdf

[ii] Cormack, D. Paine, S. J. (2020) Dear Epidemiology: a letter from two Māori Researchers. The Pantograph Punch. From https://pantograph-punch.com/posts/dear-epidemiology