New health centre opens at Clarkson

29/8/02
Health Minister Bob Kucera today officially opened Western Australia's first fully integrated community health service at Clarkson.
The Clarkson Community Health Centre in Renshaw Boulevarde integrates three separate but inter-connected services - a child and adolescent mental health centre; an adult mental health service; and a child development centre.
Mr Kucera said the overall focus of the three services was on prevention and early intervention.
Collectively they offer a wide range of specialist services including clinical psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy and social work.
"Clarkson, in the fast-growing northern suburbs, has proved to be a very popular choice for families with young children, which immediately sets it apart in terms of health priorities," Mr Kucera said.
"Between 10 and 20 per cent of all WA children will have a mild form of development disorder, and up to two per cent will develop a severe form.
"The by-product of this is a higher risk of mental health problems that can occur in children with developmental challenges.
"When you take all of these factors into account, Clarkson clearly has a high need for accessible and appropriate children's health services.
"Now that this centre has opened, local health services are in a much better position to meet the high health demands of this particular area."
Mr Kucera said the centre represented a fundamental shift from the old way of planning and delivering community-based health services because it combined and shared the benefits of various disciplines and sectors to produce greater benefits to the community.
"This model now paves the way for other community-based integrated services, as part of the Department of Health's 'New Vision for Community Health' strategy," he said.
"In time, it may well provide the benchmark for other community-based services to follow."
Minister's Office - 9213 7000