People living in Perth's northern suburbs will be able to benefit from a new partnership between North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) Mental Health and the University of Western Australia (UWA).
The partnership is designed to strengthen the link between research and practice in mental health, and to train the next generation of clinical leaders.
The Acting Executive Director NMHS Mental Health Patrick Marwick, who spearheaded the agreement with the university, is delighted with the arrangement.
“This is a unique partnership, which supports our obligation to ensure best-practice, evidence-based patient care to youth, adults and older adults and to provide these services for best value for money,” Patrick said.
The NMHS Mental Health operates in catchments that include community mental health centres, day therapy and outreach programs and inpatient units at Graylands Hospital, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Osborne Park Hospital and Swan District Hospital. NMHS Mental Health also provides the State Forensic Mental Health Service which includes the Frankland Centre on the Graylands Health Campus, the only acute forensic mental health inpatient service in WA.
The partnership between UWA and NMHS Mental Health will strive for excellence in research, clinical service delivery and education. It will promote advances in medical research, leading to improved patient outcomes and more efficient clinical services.
Research will be driven by health care needs and aims to deliver high quality care, benefitting both the patients and the professionals who train in a collaborative environment.
The engagement of health service providers with a University will translate clinical research into practice, contribute to ongoing professional development and train the next generation of clinical leaders.