YourCH is part of a new consortium appointed by the Victorian Government to operate the North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) from 1 July this year.
The North Richmond Health Partners consortium is led by North Richmond Community Health, the current MSIR lead, and also includes:
- St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne – offering acute and specialist hospital care where required
- Access Health and Community and YourCH – supporting North Richmond Community Health in offering local health and wellbeing services, including AOD addiction treatment and support.
We’re excited to be working with our partners to usher in a new era for this landmark service. Together, we will establish an enhanced, comprehensive model of care for the MSIR, ensuring that vulnerable community members have greater access to wraparound treatment, care and supports.
The new consortium will also allow for greater engagement with local community and enhance safety and amenity measures.
About the MSIR
Established by North Richmond Community Health in 2018, the MSIR is safe, supervised health setting where people can inject drugs. It provides clean injecting equipment and emergency care, meaning that if someone overdoses onsite, a staff member can respond immediately.
It also acts as a gateway to health and social services, helping to reduce the harm clients experience from drug use. Links to support services such as pharmacotherapy, mental healthcare, dental care, hepatitis C treatment and more are also offered.
Over the initial five-year trial, the MSIR recorded over 400,000 supervised injecting service visits, managed over 7,500 onsite overdoses without any deaths, and saved at least 63 lives.
The Ryan Review in 2023 also found that the MSIR had taken pressure off local hospitals, reduced ambulance call outs and helped curb the spread of blood-borne illnesses.
The MSIR was made permanent through legislation passed by the State Government last year.
You can learn more about the MSIR here and read the Victorian Government Announcement here.