#NavigatingHealth

Access to health systems can be difficult for patients, and access to managing their healthcare needs is often fragmented. A shared care approach uses the skills, knowledge and experience of a patient, carer and the health professionals who share joint decision making for an individual’s care. We talk about patient-centred care but we do not have patient-centred systems.

Our Vision

Simplifying complexity: Right Patient, Right Care, Right Time, Every Time.

About #NavigatingHealth

The CSIRO Future of Health 2018 Report cites that the health system will shift but the current lived realityGraphic showing the steps needed for the health systyem to transition from a reactive stsuems to a holistic & predictive approach is that patients face complex health systems which are often difficult to navigate with particular challenges transitioning across levels of health care.

#NavigatingHealth is a policy and advocacy project co-travelling an international doctoral thesis. The aims of the project are to streamline the silos and address the fragmentation by bringing together all those who are developing solutions to enable patients and carers to better navigate healthcare journeys. Through creating visibility by sharing stories & approaches, we are building community and sharing solutions to address these complex problems. We all have a role to play.

In September 2021 following the success of 2 national webinars in Australia we set up a "one-stop" #NavigatingHealth with solutions-focused colleagues. We hold bimonthly meetings nationally as well as webinars globally and have an active Linked In Community with >900 members globally.

Our focus is collaboration - if you want to know more please email us.

#NavigatingHealth Network

The #NavigatingHealth Network brings together all those interested in improving journeys in health. We focus on patient and professional experiences across a life journey of care to understand the problems encountered but more importantly the enablers, the many solutions being developed and how to  scale best practice approaches sustainably both locally, nationally and globally.

The following organisations have spoken at our meetings since we started in 2021 sharing their experiences, solutions and learnings - locally, nationally and globally.

We hold regular:

2024 Upcoming Events

Events for 2024 will be commencing in April:

April - #NavigatingHealth Simplifying Complexity Inaugural Forum - Tuesday 16th April 2024

June - Global webinar series recommencing

International Webinars

In 2022 recognising that #NavigatingHealth is a challenge and opportunity for many health systems we set up a global collaboration with individuals and organisations. Our focus is working globally to leverage learnings and strengths as part of a broader global health learning system.

We have run 4 global webinars since 2022. These are accessible below. In April 2023 we were approached by ABC Radio National who podcasted "The Point of Navigation" as "The radical act of making healthcare work for YOU the patient!" The podcast can be accessed here.

If you are interested to participate in these global webinars please get in touch!

2023 National Network

2022 National Network

2021 National Network

Knowledge  base

Check back here to access a developing list of local, national and international resources.

Do you have a resource to share? Please email to the Project Lead

Sian Slade

Project Lead

As a healthcare professional who worked in HIV/AIDS in the 1990s, I was an active part of developing shared care approaches. This approach uses the skills, knowledge and experience of the patient, carer and the health professionals who share joint decision making for an individual's care. But these learnings have never been scaled at a systems level. It was this background and a personal experience of a friend with pancreatic cancer that motivated my Master of Public Health Capstone research to understand the current situation in Australia. If this is a known problem impacting patients every single day, what is being done to address it?

My Masters research, presented at the Canadian Health Navigation Conference in April 2022, highlighted that stakeholders have distinct (all be they overlapping to some extent) areas of focus - structural, informational and emotional - and the mechanisms for seamless transition are not embedded across the health system. My PhD research, in Australia and UK, will build on the above and aims to identify the mechanisms that are being developed and deployed to enable patients to access and manage their healthcare across the levels of health.

Read more

Selected Publications and Presentations

Morse DF, Sandhu S, Mulligan K, et al Global developments in social prescribing BMJ Global Health 2022;7: e008524

Slade S, Patient Navigation in Australian Healthcare (oral) Canadian Health Navigation Conference Apr 2022

Slade, S The Future of Health is patient-partnered but how do we get there? Consumer Health Forum May 2022

Social Prescribing Show 2022 – Building a Global Social Prescribing Movement NHS England 2022

Slade S Mind the Gap: NavigatingHealth, Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Assocn, The Health Advocate Nov 2021

Slade, S, Brooks, P. Developing a Systems Approach to Enable Patient Navigation Croakey March 2021

Personalising Care at Population Level: The Opportunity for Social Prescribing 2020 MSPGH, University of Melbourne

Slade S, Shen C, A People Approach to Managing Knowledge: Why Do You Come to Work and Who Are You Working for? Calnan N, Lipa M, Kane P, Menezes J pp 361 – 379 USA CRC Press 2018