Ms Amber Bisset
1Department For Health and Wellbeing, Adelaide, Australia
Biography:
BNursing, MSocial Work, Amber Bisset is a Principal Project Officer with the South Australian Department for Health Wellbeing’s End of Life Care Team. She has spent her public sector career working in complex and challenging programs in human services and corrections. Since joining SA Health, Amber has supported the design and implementation of Palliative Care Connect, a suite of palliative care and bereavement navigation services funded by the Commonwealth Government.
She is a leader in diversity and inclusion in sports and led the design, development and delivery of the Yard Ball baseball program.
Abstract:
Background:
The Support at Home Program’s End-of-Life Pathway provides up to $25,000 in aged care assistance to older Australians with a prognosis of three months or less. While designed to promote dignity and coordinated care at home, the Pathway introduces new complexities in navigating client eligibility, referral processes, and service options for aged care providers, clinicians, consumers, and carers.
In South Australia, Palliative Care Connect (PCC) is best positioned to support consumers and the sector with the Support at Home Program’s End of Life Pathway. Delivered by experienced Navigators – registered nurses and social workers – PCC provides timely, personalised guidance to anyone needing help with palliative and end of life care matters (including to people in aged care). The service can deliver education and improve linkage between stakeholders and services implementing these aged care reforms.
Aims:
To explore the role of PCC navigation in supporting understanding and uptake of the End-of-Life Pathway in South Australia, highlighting that it can also support the implementation of aged care reforms in other jurisdictions through the scalability of palliative care navigation.
Methods:
This analysis will draw on six months of PCC service and website data (Nov 2025–May 2026), including call and client volumes, enquiry types, demographics and website traffic. Case studies and qualitative interviews will identify consumer experience, emerging needs, and system-level challenges related to the Support at Home Program’s End of Life Pathway.
Results:
Findings will highlight engagement patterns, common questions, and areas of unmet need. Insights will inform policy and program refinements.
Conclusions:
Navigation services like PCC help individuals and professionals to access relevant information and timely support within complex systems. Navigation services play an important role to those delivering and accessing support in a changing environment by bridging gaps at the intersections of different systems.