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St Vincent's Hospital and Community Psychiatric Service was
established in September 1995 and changed its name to St. Vincent's
Mental Health Service (SVMHS) in August 1998.
The service was established in 1995 as part
of the reforms documented in the National Mental Health Policy and
Plan, 1992. Such reforms
included (i) the mainstreaming of mental health services with the
wider health system; (ii) the delivery of a seamless, integrated and
balanced range of services which are community driven and (iii) the provision of acute inpatient care within general hospital settings.
The underlying principles: an increasing emphasis on a local
integrated system of psychiatric care which promotes continuity of
care for each individual, treatment in the least restrictive
setting, consultation with patients and families, and links with
local providers of disability support services and primary and
specialist health care providers both in general practise and
specialist services.
This Area Mental Health Service resulted from the mainstreaming
the of state mental health services (Inner Urban and Inner East
Sectors of North Eastern Metropolitan Psychiatric Service) with the
St Vincent Hospital Department of Psychiatry.
In 1998, St. Vincent's Mental Health Service was awarded the
Australia New Zealand Mental Health Services Gold Medal Award for
"Comprehensive Catchment Area Service". This award is open
to mental health services across Australia and New Zealand;
applications judged by a panel of mental health experts.
Receiving the award was felt as an important public recognition of the hard
work undertaken by staff and the Service's commitment to providing
high quality care to consumers.
More recent awards received include the 2005 Gold Award in the
Dual Diagnosis Service Award Category for Northern Nexus and the
2005 Silver Award in the Category of Specialist Service or Part of
Larger Service Category for the Adult Inpatient Service Extra Care
Unit.
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