About The SESLHD
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) covers nine NSW Local Government Areas from Sydney’s Central Business District to the Royal National Park in the South. The District has a complex mix of highly urbanised areas, industrialised areas and low density suburban development areas. It caters to a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse population of more than 840,000 people. The SESLHD Mental Health Service provides services for a large and diverse community across two geographically defined sectors: Eastern Suburbs Mental Health Service, and St George/Sutherland Mental Health Service.
The SESLHD Mental Health Service currently manages almost 10,000 clients. Annually, there are more than 5,500 mental health presentations to emergency departments across SESLHD and approximately 2,500 admissions to mental health units. There are more than 180 designated mental health beds in SESLHD across three sites Prince of Wales Hospital, St George Hospital and The Sutherland Hospital. These range from Mental Health Intensive Care to Psychiatric Emergency Care Centres (for short-term admissions), Acute and Sub-Acute Units, Aged Care and Neuropsychiatry to Rehabilitation Units. Additionally, the Mental Health Service provides more than 28,000 occasions of service in the community each year.
New and emerging service models including Recovery-Oriented Practice, Trauma-Informed Practice and the Strengths Model, are led by the concept of consumer-focused care. This is a key concept in the National Standards for Mental Health Services (2010).
The Health-Science Alliance applies an integrated approach to innovative health education and research. As a core partner in the Alliance, the Mental Health Service is particularly focused on translational research – that is, how new discoveries will ultimately benefit patients. The Mental Health Service integrates mental health rehabilitation and recovery across hospital, community and educational settings throughout the lifespan. Its ability to provide this direct interface is both its major contribution and the key benefit of its membership in The Health-Science Alliance.
Champion for the Mindgardens Project
Dr Murray Wright is a psychiatrist and the Director of the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District Mental Health Service. He has more than 25 years of experience in clinical psychiatry and has held senior executive management positions in mental health and drug and alcohol units in both metropolitan and rural services.
Highly skilled in operational management, service planning and hospital redevelopment, he is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), has published in both national and international psychiatry journals and is a former Clinical Senior Lecturer for the University of Sydney and former head of the Psychiatry State Training Committee.
Dr Wright is passionate about the education of aspiring psychiatrists and in developing innovative models of care, including those which bring together research, teaching and service delivery for the benefit of the community. Translating what we know into what we do is a crucial step in improving health outcomes for people with mental illness.