These researchers examined data from Waitemata District Health Board’s two Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) to identify the population of Waitemata domiciled women aged 25–69 years eligible for cervical screening. Their cervical screening status was obtained from the National Cervical Screening Programme register (NCSP-R). Auckland and Waitemata DHB data were used to determine the women’s ethnicity in the National Health Index (NHI). Ethnicity codes from the three sources (PHO registers, NCSP-R and NHI) were compared to identify women classified as non-Māori in the NCSP-R but Māori in either of the other two data sources. Of a total of 6718 women identified as Māori on the NCSP, 5242 had been screened within the last 3 years and 1476 had not. An additional 2075 women who identified as Māori in either the PHO or NHI databases but not in the NCSP-R had been screened within the preceding 3 years, and a further 2094 had not been screened. Moreover, 797 women identified as Māori in the NHI or PHO datasets who were not on the NCSP-R (and therefore were not screened). After adjusting ethnicity data to include all screened women classified as Māori from any source, the Waitemata DHB Māori screening coverage rate increased from 49.3% to 68.8% (or to 61.0% and 63.2%, respectively, after adjusting for just PHO or NHI Māori).
