Drug health services

The Addiction Medicine Clinic, Nurse Practitioner Clinic and Specialist Pharmacotherapy Service offer appointments with an addiction medicine specialist, nurse practitioner, psychiatrist or registrar for management of complex or high-risk substance use disorder conditions. 

Addiction Medicine Consultation Liaison (CL) Service  

The Addiction Medicine CL service is staffed by Addiction Medicine Specialist, HMO, Registrar and Nurse Practitioners, Psychiatry Consultants, Registrars and AOD Nurse Practitioners. 

Our CL Nurse Practitioner works with the Addiction Medicine clinicians to provide comprehensive specialist assessments, short-term in-hospital care and advice about treatment for ambulatory services.  

MHAOD Hub The Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Hub based at Sunshine Hospital supports people who are experiencing mental health issues or problems with alcohol or other drugs. It brings these services together in one place, making it easier to get the right help. The Hub offers assessment, short-term care, crisis support, and ongoing treatment. Care is focused on each person’s needs and goals, and staff work closely with families, carers and community services to provide the right support. The space has been designed to feel safe, welcoming, and supportive. By having mental health and AOD services together, the Hub makes it simpler to access care and helps people get the support they need, closer to home in Melbourne’s west.

The Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug (MHAOD) Connect is a multidisciplinary team that provides coordinated post-discharge support for up to six weeks to patients who present to Sunshine Hospital or Footscray Hospital Emergency Departments with Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) issues and/or non-acute mental health concerns. The service operates Monday to Friday during business hours. It is primarily a telephone/telehealth service but does see some patients face to face. The service only accepts referrals from Emergency Department based staff, including AOD and Emergency Mental Health clinicians, and from the AOD Consultation Liaison service at Sunshine and Footscray. 

Contact: [email protected]

The Hamilton Centre is the Victorian statewide service for people living with mental illness and substance use or addiction. 

The Hamilton Centre works to improve outcomes for people with co-occurring conditions through specialist clinical services, workforce education and training, and best practice research. 

Drug Health Services is a clinical partner collaborating with Area Mental Health Services in the Western suburbs, Grampians, Southwest and Barwon region. 

This team includes Addiction Psychiatrists, Addiction Medicine Specialists, Addiction Medicine Registrars, and a Nurse Practitioner. 

They also work closely with their partners to enhance capacity building within the Mental Health and AOD sectors. 

This involves supporting and supervising new Registrars and providing tailored education and training to various disciplines.

The Custodial Health Addiction Medicine Clinic at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre was created to address the issues pertaining to high rates of untreated addiction and trauma in custodial settings, leading to preventable harm and poor reintegration into society.  

Through integrated in-prison treatment, the clinic delivers safety, dignity, and recovery-focused care. It has improved outcomes for incarcerated people and now leads national reform through the National Prison Addiction Medicine Network.

Peer Support Workers are lived experience workers who provide support, practical assistance or other guidance and information through directly supporting the individual and/or family members, carers or someone from the consumer’s personal support network. 

Peer Support workers use their expertise gained from lived experience of mental distress, alcohol and other drugs and/or trauma, as well as experience of recovery and supporting recovery. Peer Support workers work alongside clinicians and apply their expertise utilising specific lived experience models of care and support to promote improved outcomes for consumers in their recovery, and carers in their supportive role.

The Drug Health Services Residential Unit is smoke free statewide 16-bed residential withdrawal unit located in Footscray. 

​We provide short-term, supervised medical withdrawal care for people affected by alcohol and other drug use​. 

Admissions are usually 7 days, with extensions up to 10 days if clinically indicated​. Treatment is voluntary and provided with informed consent​. 

We provide 24-hour support from a multidisciplinary team​ including nursing support and Addiction Medicine specialists

The service comprises two distinct programs:​

Adult Program – Drug Health Residential Unit 

• 12 beds for adults aged18-65
• 24-hour support for substance withdrawal, stabilization, reduction and monitoring
• Educational based program 

Youth Program – Drug Health Residential Unit 

• 4 beds for young people aged 12-25 years ​
• For clients under 16, care is provided with guardian consent
• Recreational and educational based program 

For more information, download the adolescent residential brochure.

Drug Health Services is involved in multiple clinical research trials and has a focus on ‘real world’ clinical models of care for people who use drugs. 

The Addiction Medicine unit is part of Western Health Chronic Disease Alliance. There is an existing partnership with the Burnet Institute with whom Drug Health Services cofounded the National Prison Addiction Medicine Network to bring together various stakeholders across the custodial sector to develop evidence-based guidelines for the management of people who use drugs in prisons.