ACCESS: Aboriginal Community Controlled Ear health Support System: developing, embedding and evaluating bestpractice models of care

ACCESS will co-design and embed an integrated ear-health support system within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) to improve the ear health outcomes of urban Aboriginal children. For 16 years, SEARCH (Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health) hascollaborated with ACCHSs on the community driven priority area of ear health. SEARCH found that most preschool children had ear disease and 90% of those with hearing impairment had ear disease. SEARCH sourced $3.1 million funds for a service program (HEALS; 2013-2017) to deliver over 8000 earhealth services (e.g., ENT surgery and speech therapy services). ACCESS is uniquely positioned to use this research and service delivery experience to workwith ACCHSs to deliver best practice ear-health prevention and treatment service models and investigate a novel Aboriginal Child Health Navigator service.