This work is the result of a Churchill Fellowship conducted by the author in 2018. Our health systems are complex, as treatment options improve and personalised medicine impacts on care, the system becomes more difficult to navigate. Our health budgets are stretched, staff are working past capacity and we cannot keep up with demand. Innovation becomes ever important as we search for answers to provided best possible cancer care. The patient navigation system is an excellent example of how relationship-based care places the patient at the centre of care, not only focusing on the individual patient and family needs but also on the development of a relationship between the patient navigator and the patient. Patient navigators have been shown to improve access to care, enhance care coordination and overcome barriers to timely high-quality health service delivery. Combined with access to sound cancer information, patient navigators have the potential to dramatically improve the patient experience.
Workforce shortages in oncology care are a recognised phenomenon internationally, with many countries identifying an ageing workforce where oncology care demand is outstripping supply as the leading cause of workforce shortage. The need to consider alternate models was another driver behind the development of patient navigation models of care.
There is a need to consider how the Australian health care workforce could be leveraged to develop a role that supports patient navigation. In the US and UK patient navigators often have a health sciences background, such as health promotion or a Masters of Public Health. Typically these qualifications provide in depth understanding of the inter dependencies of low socio-economic status and poor health outcomes. There is an opportunity to consider the development of a patient navigation model in Australia that focuses on populations experiencing high health disparities, such as our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.