From left: Medical Trustee Aidan O'Donnell, Chair Vicky McLennan, Trust Manager Paula Baker, Te Kōhao Health Managing Director Lady Tureiti Moxon, Independent Trustee Lu-Ana Ngatai, Programme Lead Caity Fiske
A common aspiration to improve health outcomes in the Waikato community has been formalised through the signing of a joint memorandum (MOU) between kaupapa Māori health provider Te Kōhao Health and Braemar Charitable Trust.
Braemar Charitable Trust owns Braemar Hospital and undertakes a range of activities to help deliver on its charitable purpose to improve health outcomes and advance healthcare equity and access.
The Trust and Te Kōhao Health have worked together since 2023, focusing on addressing unmet health needs in the community, including enabling free surgeries for eligible patients through the Trust’s Community Surgery Programme, which helps those who have been declined by the public system or face very long wait times, and who don’t have insurance, ACC or the financial means to pay privately.
In 2025 the Trust also partnered with Te Kōhao to run a half-day haemorrhoid banding clinic at its Taakiri Tuu Wellness and Diagnostic Centre, where colorectal specialist and board member Jasen Ly, alongside Braemar Hospital nurse Jenny Hantler, donated their time to perform procedures while training Te Kōhao GP Dr Tipene Wairepo.
Dr Wairepo also took part in skin lesion professional development with Hamilton-based plastic surgeon Dr Winston McEwan, an initiative enabled by the Trust with funding from DV Bryant Trust and the Glenice and John Gallagher Foundation.
Formalising an established relationship
Braemar Charitable Trust Chair Vicky McLennan says having a well-established relationship with Te Kōhao made the decision to formalise the partnership an easy one.
“We feel very fortunate to work alongside partners who share in our vision of improving health outcomes and ensuring our communities get the help they need, and we are delighted to now have this common purpose with Te Kōhao formalised on paper.”
The MOU will enable further collaboration between both organisations with a focus on supporting whānau, especially Māori and Pacific peoples and high-needs populations.
“In addition to enabling access to free procedures for eligible patients, we will be working together to support training of Te Kōhao GPs and clinicians in minor surgical procedures and referral pathways for procedures at Braemar,” says Ms McLennan.
“Our aim is to be pragmatic and work together to bring much-needed healthcare access closer to those who need it.”
Managing Director of Te Kōhao, Lady Tureiti Moxon, says the MOU cements the highly collaborative three-year relationship between the two organisations while looking forward to the years to come.
“Here we have two organisations that share the same values, the same aspirations, and a promise to work together more closely to help our communities to live healthier, more fulfilling lifestyles.
“Because we work together so collaboratively, we can find new and innovative ways of supporting whānau, helping upskill local clinicians, and to do the best we possibly can for our people wherever they are.”