Community health navigators in Australian general practice: an implementation study

Cathy O’Callaghan; Elizabeth Harris; Sabuj Kanti Mistry; Mark F. Harris

doi:10.1071/PY25019

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Community health navigators in Australian general practice: an implementation study

Cathy O’Callaghan ^A ^* , Elizabeth Harris ^A , Sabuj Kanti Mistry ^B Mark F. Harris

^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A International Centre for Future Health Systems, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

^B School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: c.ocallaghan@unsw.edu.au

Australian Journal of Primary Health 31, PY25019 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY25019

Submitted: 29 January 2025 Accepted: 16 May 2025 Published: 5 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Patient health navigators have an emerging role in assisting people to connect with health and social care services especially those experiencing language and communication barriers. A challenge with navigator programs is sustaining their implementation. This study evaluated the implementation and sustainability of bilingual community navigators (BCNs) in multilingual general practices in Sydney and their impact on patient access. The hypothesis was that the use of bilingual navigators within multilingual practices would be acceptable and feasible, improve patient access to appropriate care and staff workload, and reduce health inequities.

Methods

Patient referral information was collected and analysed descriptively. Interviews were conducted with practice staff, patients, and navigators after 10-week placements and analysed thematically using Normalisation Process Theory.

Results

A total of 110 patients were referred to navigators who assisted with booking appointments, accessing community resources, and translating and explaining information. Interviews were undertaken with four navigators, three patients, three carers, and four GPs. Practice participants could see the benefits of the BCNs and were motivated to engage with them, especially with GP endorsement. However, not all understood the navigator competencies and roles. In some practices, the population needs and the scheduling of appointments and staff routines could have aligned better, which constrained referrals and continued navigator involvement.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential role of navigators in addressing navigation challenges experienced by culturally and linguistically diverse patients in general practice. More effort is needed to tailor attachments to the unique needs of the patient population and practice schedule. Sustainability requires ongoing funding and broad institutional support.

Keywords: Australia, community health workers, culturally and linguistically diverse, healthcare navigation, health and social care, health equity, implementation, primary care.

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