Medically Supervised Injecting Room project

The Medically Supervised Injecting Room project provided:

• more capacity for supervised injecting through longer operating hours
• more counselling and treatment rooms
• more health and social support services.

The Medically Supervised Injecting Room was constructed in two stages. The first stage refurbished existing space within North Richmond Health to provide immediate capacity and service. The second stage included a new, additional facility at the same location to provide additional capacity.

The Medically Supervised Injecting Room project aimed to achieve the following benefits:

Reduce overdose deaths

High numbers of Victorians lose their lives to drug-related overdoses. Medically supervised injecting rooms are a safety-first, medical approach focused on harm reduction that aims to reduce overdose deaths and harm.

Improve neighbourhood amenity

The facility aims to improve neighbourhood amenity for the local community by reducing the incidence of public injecting. It also aims to reduce the number of discarded needles and syringes in neighbouring public areas.

Access to services

The service aims to provide pathways for clients to link with other health and social services. This means people can access vital treatment and support to reduce harm and drug dependency.

This project was delivered by the Victorian Health Building Authority in partnership with:

• North Richmond Community Health
• Lyons (architect)
• Kane Construction (builder).