#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 healthcare 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 reality 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 thinking to address these complex problems. We all have a role to play.
Interested in joining us? Sign up now
Navigation Network
The Navigation Network brings together all those interested in enabling more streamlined journeys in health. We are exploring patient and professional journeys across a life journey of care to understand the problems encountered and more importantly the enablers being developed.
The following organisations have spoken at our meetings over the past year to share their experiences, solutions and learnings.
Interested in joining us? Sign up now
Events
We run
- bimonthly National Navigation Network meetings with the support of Australian Disease Management Association (ADMA).
- quarterly international webinars.
International Webinar Recordings
Past Topics
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Consumer Health: Resources, Rights and Supports
- Consumer Health Resources: What’s Available, Clare Mullen, Deputy Director, Health Consumers’ Council Western Australia
- Consumer Rights; Partnering with Consumers Anna Flynn, Director, Australian Centre for Safety & Quality in Healthcare
- The Role of the Health Complaints Commissioner, Professor Bernice Redley, Health Complaints Commissioner, Victoria
- The Role of the Office of the Public Advocate, Michelle Willcox Coordinator of the Healthy Discussions Project at the Victorian Office of the Public Advocate
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Navigating Mental Health
- Creating a Path to Follow, Kirstie Edwards, Founder, A Path to Follow,
- Delivering Statewide Reform with Focus on Youth Mental Health. Dr Sam Cassar, Orygen
- Navigating Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Health, Dr Stephen Carbone, Founder and CEO, Prevention United
- System Planning & Design in Mental Health, Pam Anders, Senior Executive Director Department of Wellbeing and Mental Health, Victorian Government
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Navigating Rare Diseases, Transitioning into Adulthood & Employment
- Navigating Across Rare and Complex Conditions & Scaling Solutions – Kate Holliday,CEO Centre for Community Driven Research
- Navigating the path to adulthood: Legal capacity, decision-making, and profound intellectual disability – Michelle King, University of Queensland
- Navigating employment, health and disability – Mary-Jane Stolp, The Bridge
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Building Health Literacy and Outcomes Across Communities
- “A thousand meaningful conversations” - Dr Linny Kimly, Phuong, The Water Well Project
- Patient Data for Patient Outcomes - Nicole Cooper*, Dr Phil Smart, the Bowel Cancer Outcomes Registry
*Nicole Cooper passed away in January 2023. She will be remembered as a passionate advocate for improved access and outcomes. Our thanks and fond memories to someone who energised all around her
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Navigating Journeys across Healthcare
- 50 Things They Don’t Tell You About Being a Patient Alexandra Wilson, Griffith University
- Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis Professor Craig Hassed, Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis
- Pathways in Upper GI Cancers David Menzies, Pancare
- Integrating Across Complexity Catherine Grant, Western Health
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Navigating Health in Queensland
- First Nations Navigation in Cancer Care Dr Bena Brown, University of Queensland
- Nurse Navigator in Complex Chronic Disease Nikia Goldsmith, Nurse Navigators Queensland, Metro North Queensland
- Navigating Children’s and Youth Health Perrin Moss, Children’s Health Queensland
- Aged Care System Navigator Kate Kleeman, COTA Queensland
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Health Literacy, Misinformation & Disinformation & Continuity of Care
- Health literacy to improve navigation Professor Richard Osborne, Swinburne University
- The problem of misinformation and disinformation in a cancer context Hayley Jones, Director, McCabe Centre for Law & Cancer
- Improving cardiac patient continuity of care (hospital, home, community) Dr Susie Cartledge, Monash University
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Closing and Addressing Gaps in Indigenous Eye Health and Cancer
- Closing the gap: Leadership in Vision in Eye Health Professor Hugh Taylor, University of Melbourne
- Addressing the Gaps Peer Navigation in Cancer Sarah Powell,CEO, Pink Hope
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Partnering with Consumers: The Start of a Conversation
- Partnering with Consumers – Anna Flynn, Australian Centre for Safety & Quality in Healthcare
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NavigatingHealth: Navigating Across a Life Journey - Webinar One
- Why This Matters - Leanne Wells, Consumer Health Forum
- The Role of the GP in Health System Complexity Dr Jane Crowe, Deepdene Surgery/Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Navigating multiple systems & gaps: health, disability, education Heather Renton, CEO, SWAN Australia
- Developing programs to navigate childhood development delays Alison Davies, Northern Health
- Peer Support Programs in Mental health Robert O’Leary, Batyr
- Navigating Cancer & Chronic Care Geraldine McDonald, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Aged Care Navigators Andrew Clark, COTA Australia
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NavigatingHealth: Navigating Across a Life Journey - Webinar Two
- Person Centred Systems: Why This Matters David Bunker, Health Translation Queensland
- The Future Workforce, Consumer Focused Professor Peter Brooks, University of Melbourne
- The Right Place: A Community of Navigators Dianne Gibb, Department of Health, Tasmania
- Optimal Care Pathways for Professionals & Patients Julia Brancato, Cancer Council Victoria
- Bicultural Community Champions: Covid Navigators – Silva Nazaretian, Enliven
- Navigating Dementia Service – Emma Craig, Dementia Australia
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NavigatingHealth Technologies: Tests, Trials and Records
- Bringing New Technologies to Patients/Consumers, Dean Whiting Pathology Technology Australia,
- The How To Guide: Accessing Clinical Trials. Janelle Bowden, Access CR
- Using Accessible Learning Platforms to Educate. Amanda Eddy-Lacey, Learning Designer, Dementia Australia
- My Health Record & the Role of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Jessica Carew, Australian Digital Health Agency
Knowledge base
We are collecting resources - 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

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.
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