The following is attributable to a North Richmond Community Health (NRCH) spokesperson:
For the past 49 years, NRCH has provided comprehensive health and social supports to the North Richmond community, and we are committed to continuing to service our community for many decades to come.
Over the past 5 years, one of our commitments has been to provide critical and lifesaving work through a Medically Supervised Injecting Room – only the second of its kind in Australia.
We are incredibly proud of what this service, and our staff, have achieved to date. The MSIR has done exactly what it was intended to do – it has saved lives, connected people to the many critical health and social support services provided at our health centre, and improved the local North Richmond community.
The independent review chaired by Mr John Ryan found that since opening, trained and experienced NRCH staff have safely managed almost 6,000 overdoses onsite (now over 6,300) and saved at least 63 lives. The service has taken pressure off local hospitals and reduced ambulance call outs.
The service has also removed barriers to critical health and social supports for people who need them. Highly skilled and dedicated staff have provided more than 112,000 health and social services onsite including Hepatitis C testing and treatment, homelessness support, mental health support, dental care, general practice, and addiction support and treatment.
We welcome the Government’s announcement that this life-saving facility will become a permanent fixture in the North Richmond community, and we are committed to continuing to provide life-saving and life-changing care to the people who use this service.
NRCH will review the Ryan Report and its recommendations, and we look forward to further conversations with Government regarding the implementation of recommendations relating to support for clients, outreach and amenity. In the meantime, we will continue to provide comprehensive health and social support to the North Richmond community, as we have always done.
