Respectful and culturally responsive communication which acknowledges the preferences, needs, knowledge and values of individuals that engage with the cancer care system is key to quality cancer care.[132] For many people, a cancer diagnosis will be one of the most traumatic experiences in their lives. Person-centred communication by healthcare providers should contribute to supporting consumers’ understanding, healing and a consumer-healthcare provider relationship based on mutual trust and respect. This action is about supporting healthcare providers and the cancer care workforce through resources and training to encourage a health system that is person-centred and culturally responsive.

Activities to achieve this 2-year action may include:

• supporting effective healthcare provider-consumer communication and cultural safety through education and training, including on the use of clear, person-centred, culturally responsive, tailored, and consistent language that supports a shared understanding of the goals of care
• encouraging improved communication channels between consumers, primary care practitioners and specialists under multidisciplinary navigation models
• developing tailored, culturally responsive resources to support all healthcare providers to have appropriate conversations with consumers including their carers and families which address different aspects of the consumer experience across the cancer care continuum, aligned to the OCPs.

Culturally responsive resources should seek to align with other cultural training programs to drive consistency (see Action 5.2.3 Evaluate and extend cultural safety training programs to cancer service providers, including through community-based partnerships with priority population groups). This action builds upon activities to improve availability of co-designed, tailored information and care for consumers (see Action 2.2.2 Improve availability of co-designed, tailored information and care for consumers to improve health literacy and reduce cancer-related stigma).

Implementation of this action for priority population groups should consider:

• co-designing tailored resources with priority population groups and healthcare providers that work with them, including considerations of intersectionality
• encouraging utilisation of the broad health workforce to enhance communication with consumers including their carers and families, for example involving interpreters and culturally trained workers to support people with diverse backgrounds, or allied health workers to support older Australians
• encouraging consistent training in cultural safety tailored to priority population groups, including on the use of clear, person-centred, culturally responsive, consistent language and respectful communication.