Improving access to specialist outpatient care for First Nations patients: Reducing failure-to-attend through culturally safe pathway redesign

First Nations patients at Austin Health experience significantly higher rates of missed outpatient specialist appointments, reflecting systemic barriers and a lack of consistently culturally safe, accessible care.

This project will work in Aboriginal partnership – using co-design with First Nations patients, community and staff – to redesign selected outpatient pathways to better support engagement. By focusing on health system responsibility, it will identify practical, locally relevant changes to improve cultural safety, coordination and access to care. The project aims to reduce failure-to-attend rates, strengthen continuity of care and trust in the health system, and contribute to closing the health gap.

The Fellowship will strengthen my capability to lead complex, Aboriginal-partnered system redesign and translate co-designed evidence into sustainable organisational change. It will provide structured support to evaluate and implement changes that are locally meaningful and scalable across services. For Austin Health, the program will enable measurable improvements in outpatient access, engagement and efficiency for First Nations patients. More broadly, it will help embed culturally safe, evidence-informed practice within core service delivery and support the organisation’s commitment to equity.