The clock is about to be wound back on Labour's Māori health initiative despite pleas that it should be given more time to prove its worth.

All three of the parties who will form the next government have campaigned on disestablishing the Māori Health Authority. What does it even do, and what will happen if it's scrapped?

It was to be a gamechanger that would give Māori a strong voice in the health system.

But nearly 18 months on, the incoming National-led government wants to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority) saying it hasn't achieved anything worthwhile in its short existence.

RNZ In Depth te ao Māori journalist Ella Stewart (Ngāpuhi) says the Māori Health Authority was changing the balance of power in the health system.

"Te Aka Whai Ora came into effect in July 1st, 2022. It is the first time in Aotearoa that we've had a commissioning agency for Māori at that upper central government level with the power to do a whole bunch of things," Stewart says.

"That includes commissioning Māori services and also monitoring performance of the publicly-funded health system. It was this idea that it's putting power back into the hands of Māori so that tino rangatiratanga, that mana motuhake - that sovereignty, self-determination and independence - to make decisions for Māori and by Māori, and that is informed by speaking with Māori on the ground."

Riana Manuel was appointed chief executive of the Māori Health Authority.

How do they do that? Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards are tasked with speaking to local Māori and Māori health providers about what works best for them, then going back to the Māori Health Authority and asking them to commission certain services.

In today's episode, The Detail visits the offices of Turuki Health, a South Auckland-based kaupapa Māori health provider.

Its CEO Te Puea Winiata (Ngāti Ranginui) explains what's changed from the days of the district health boards (DHBs).

"The DHB contracted us to deliver certain services. When we saw a contract that we thought we could deliver, we applied with a range of other providers who might also see themselves delivering that service. It was a contestable process and the DHB chose one provider or a few providers to cover a wider geographic area," Winiata says.

She says the Māori Health Authority has turned that model on its head.

"They sent out proposals to say 'hey, if you were to meet the needs of this particular community, with these particular issues, how would you go about that and would you be interested basically in entering into a design process, along with us, to look at how we could achieve better outcomes for our communities'." …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details