Toi Manawa Alliance has welcomed the announcement that the Bay of Plenty has been selected as a partner region for the University of Waikato’s New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine (NZGSM).

Katarina Gordon, chief Executive of Toi Manawa Alliance, formally known as Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance, said it was a landmark moment for health workforce development in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Addressing our nation’s primary care crisis required not just more doctors, it required doctors who knew what it meant to serve rural, high-needs communities from the ground up.

The Bay of Plenty offered exactly the environment to produce them.

“We are genuinely proud that the strengths of Te Moana a Toi have been recognised,” Gordon said.

“The Bay of Plenty region is not simply a convenient training location – it is one of the most complex and compelling health learning environments in the country.

“The Eastern Bay in particular offers something very few regions can: the chance for a future doctor to sit alongside a whānau GP in a Very Low Cost Access (VLCA) practice, follow a patient through to Whakatāne Hospital, and return to the community to see the outcome. That is the kind of longitudinal, relationship-based learning that changes careers – and ultimately, lives.”

Toi Manawa Alliance, together with its iwi partners Ngāti Awa-mandated Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngāti Awa, contributed to the Te Moana a Toi joint submission alongside the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation and Ngā Mataapuna Oranga. Collectively, the partnership supports approximately 240,000 enrolled patients across 47 general practices, spanning urban Tauranga to the remote coastal communities of Te Kaha.

The Eastern Bay alone tells a compelling story of both need and opportunity.

Of the approximately 79,000 enrolled patients within the Toi Manawa Alliance network, 59 percent identify as Māori, 74 percent carry a high health needs classification, and 54 percent live in areas of significant socioeconomic deprivation.

Nine of 10 general practices within the PHA hold VLCA status. Ambulatory Sensitive Hospitalisation rates for Māori and Pacific peoples across the region sit well above national averages, reflecting the very gaps in primary care continuity and workforce sustainability that the NZGSM is designed to address.

“These are not just statistics. They represent whānau who wait too long, communities that have gone too often without a local doctor they trust, and a workforce pipeline that has historically bypassed the Eastern Bay in favour of more urban training environments,” Gordon said.

She said for this model to succeed, the clinical placement framework must intentionally push beyond the established infrastructure of larger urban centers like Tauranga.

“To truly break historical workforce patterns, the unique, high-needs environment of the Eastern Bay must be a deliberate, frontline priority from day one.

“Evidence consistently shows that doctors who train in rural, high-needs communities are significantly more likely to practice in them. The Eastern Bay offers students something that cannot be replicated in urban environments: genuine continuity of care across a full clinical spectrum, immersion in kauapa Māori models of hauora, and direct experience of the workforce gaps that are already limiting whānau access to timely, quality care.”

Toi Manawa Alliance has called on the University of Waikato to ensure the NZGSM’s community placement framework, Community Clinical Learning Centre (CCLC)investment, and student accommodation pathways include the Eastern Bay.

“The infrastructure exists. The iwi partnerships are in place. The clinical environments are rich. What is needed now is commitment — in the governance structure, in the funding model, and in the placement design,” Gordon said.

She said the alliance and its partners had already laid significant groundwork.

A regional hui in February 2026 brought together general practices across the Western and Eastern Bay to discuss readiness and training pathway development.

“Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngāti Awa has indicated strong interest in hosting a CCLC embedded within its hauora Māori services in Kōpeopeo, Whakatāne – less than a 10-minute walk from Whakatāne Hospital and closely connected to the Whakatāne Urgent Care and After Hours service.

“Iwi-linked accommodation pathways are actively being explored to reduce the cost and complexity of rural placements for postgraduate students.”