Anaesthetists have come out in support of moves to consider ethnicity when prioritising people on medical waitlists.

Ethnicity is a factor in a new medical wait list criteria Te Whatu Ora's rolled out in Auckland, alongside clinical priority, time already spent on the waitlist, location and deprivation level.

NZSA Auckland President Dr Morgan Edwards supports this tool, as anaesthetists are well-positioned to use this tool to address inequity of health outcomes for Maori and Pasifika people.

"What we know is- when you look at Maori patients, the journey that it's taken for them to get to that waitlist is a much, much longer one when you look at the entire journey than people who are non- Maori."

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