Dr George Laking, nō Te Whakatōhea, who has been appointed as a co-medical director of the NZ Cancer Society alongside Dr Kate Gregory to provide oversight of the society's research programme and medical and clinical policies, already has plans to help Māori.
Laking is a medical oncologist in Auckland and Northland, president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Aotearoa, and a member of the Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa.
Laking says the accessibility and acceptability of cancer services for Māori whānau aren't as good as New Zealand would hope and he says, “The system we historically had really hasn’t delivered to Māori.”
“In turn, we've seen that the outcomes have been worse and outcomes of Māori with cancer significantly worse,” he says.
Laking, who has experience in the Māori medical industry and oncology, says he aims to build a community-based component of the Cancer Society because the diagnosis takes far too long to get to the patients of concern.
“The whole aspect of getting out to the community so that, when there's a question that could relate to cancer, the question is heard, and not put off one side with delays,” he says.