OPINION: South Auckland doesn’t need another silo. We need to get better at working together

The real challenge isn't access to services. It's how well we connect them around the

lives of whānau. CEO of Te Ora Puāwai and Waiora Wellness Centre, Mark Simiona gives his perspective on why collaboration matters more than ever

We use some powerful words in health and social services.

Integration. Partnership. Whānau-centred. Collaboration.

They appear in strategies, funding applications, contracts, and presentations. But genuine collaboration is much harder than writing the word. Because truly working together takes effort.

It means organisations sometimes having to put aside territory, ownership, and organisational interests.

It means sharing relationships, information, and responsibility.

It means commissioners creating funding arrangements that allow providers to work across boundaries rather than forcing people into narrowly defined contracts.

And it means government designing systems around the lives of people, rather than expecting people to organise their lives around the structure of the system.

I believe this is one of the biggest opportunities we have in South Auckland.

The issue isn't that our communities have no services.

We have talented clinicians. Strong community organisations. Māori and Pacific providers. Social services. NGOs. Government agencies. Churches, community groups and people doing extraordinary work every day.

The problem is that too often those pieces still operate separately.

And when we don't join the pieces together, who carries the burden?

The whānau does.

A person dealing with diabetes may also be dealing with housing instability.

A mother trying to get to a medical appointment may also be managing children, work, transport, and household costs.

Someone living with a disability may be interacting with health services, disability services, housing providers, and government agencies simultaneously.

From the system's perspective, these are different services.

From a whānau perspective, it is one life.

That distinction matters.

The Government's new primary-care health target, which came into effect on 1 July 2026, aims for more than 80% of people to be able to access a general-practice appointment within one week. Improving access is important.

But access through the front door is only part of the answer.

We also need to ask:

What happens after someone walks through it?

Do we send them away with another phone number?

Another referral?

Another organisation to find?

Another eligibility assessment?

Another story they have to tell?

Or can we build a system where organisations take greater responsibility for connecting the dots?

For me, health equality is not simply about giving everybody access to the same door.

It is about making sure people have a genuine opportunity to achieve good health, regardless of how complicated their circumstances may be.

That matters particularly in communities like South Auckland, and particularly for Māori and Pacific whānau who have too often experienced poorer access and outcomes.

But I don't think the solution is another round of organisations competing to build another version of something that already exists.

I think part of the answer is much simpler, and much harder:

Work together.

Fund collaboration.

Commission for shared outcomes.

Reward providers for connecting people rather than protecting organisational boundaries.

Share responsibility when someone's needs cross health and social services.

And measure success by what changed in the life of the person or whānau — not simply by which organisation delivered which activity.

At Te Ora Puāwai (TOP), this thinking has influenced the model we are building under the Te Ranga Ora (TRO) programme funded by Te Whatu Ora -Counties Manukau who support three other collectives on this programme. Our services connect health navigation, advocacy, long-term-condition and disability support, housing-related assistance and other whānau support.

And through our clinical arm Waiora Wellness Centre (WWC), we are taking another step by connecting GP and nursing care with wrap-around health and social support.

Waiora itself has been built through partnership between Te Ora Puāwai and Great South Health Medical.

We're not suggesting that we have all the answers.

Far from it.

But we are willing, and we are currently doing the difficult task of working to connect the pieces.

And perhaps that is the challenge I would put to providers, funders, Health New Zealand and government:

What could we achieve in South Auckland if we stopped asking, “Which organisation owns this?” and started asking, “What does this whānau need,  and which of us can contribute?”

Because collaboration takes more effort.

But fragmentation costs our communities much more. So, no more frag, let's connect!