Empowering Aboriginal leadership in patient safety

29 January 2026

Creating safe and culturally appropriate healthcare experiences for Aboriginal people and communities is strongest when it is led by Aboriginal people.

The Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) is relaunching its Ian O’Rourke Scholarship to support Aboriginal health workers to strengthen culturally safe care across NSW.

The scholarship provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees of NSW Health with up to $10,000 to invest in study, research, leadership development, conferences or workplace projects focused on improving Aboriginal patient safety.

"Structural reform across the NSW Health system is essential to improving equitable access to safe and culturally appropriate healthcare that meets the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal people," said Adjunct Professor Michael Nicholl, Chief Executive of the CEC.

"As an agency, we are focused on connecting, listening and responding to Aboriginal people.

"This includes supporting Aboriginal leadership in driving safety improvements and centring their knowledge and depth of experience in broader reform.

"I am delighted to be relaunching this scholarship to support Aboriginal leadership and professional development."

Redesigned in partnership with a panel of Aboriginal healthcare leaders, researchers and academics, the scholarship supports work that strengthens culturally safe care, respects Aboriginal identity, and helps ensure Aboriginal people feel safe, heard and empowered when engaging with health services

"Aboriginal patient safety is about more than individual interactions, it’s about strengthening systems, leadership and cultural safety across our health services," said Caron Shaw, Principal Aboriginal Clinical Safety and Cultural Advisor at the CEC.

"The Ian O’Rourke Scholarship supports Aboriginal staff to lead this work in ways that are grounded in culture, community and lived experience."

The scholarship is named in honour of the late surgeon and academic Dr Ian Charles O’Rourke, former chief executive of the New South Wales Institute for Clinical Excellence, now the CEC.

Scholarship applications open 9 am Monday 2 February 2026 and close at 11:59 pm Sunday 8 March 2026.