There is a need to reduce barriers faced by Māori in accessing GP, optometry and retinopathy screening referrals, according to a retrospective audit of first specialist diabetic retinopathy clinic appointments at the Department of Ophthalmology, Te Whatu Ora Te Toka Tumai Auckland. Data from 388 patients was analysed, of whom 42% were European, 9.5% were Māori, 13.2% were Pasifika, 32.7% were Asian and 2% were Middle Eastern/Latin American/African. Compared with patients of other ethnicities, Māori patients were eligible for a significantly greater number of treatments (p=0.001). Across ethnicities, the comprehensiveness of history taking, examination, investigations and proportion of eligible treatments provided was similar but did not reach the gold standard of care.
