Joondalup is a health and medical ecosystem providing comprehensive health care and advances in health education and research and is the strategic, accessible centre for health and medical services in Perth’s north.
Joondalup is primed to expand to take health innovation and medical research to the next level in WA. The Health and Medical Precinct has available land close to existing infrastructure including the Joondalup Health Campus (JHC) and innovative health and medical research providers such as Linear Clinical Research, The Kids Research Institute Australia (formerly Telethon Kids Institute), Telethon Speech and Hearing and the ORIGINS Project.
Anchored by Edith Cowan University (ECU) and North Metropolitan TAFE within the Joondalup Learning Precinct, the Joondalup Health and Medical Precinct will support the entire north metropolitan region and contribute to the WA economy through research, innovation and job creation.
JHC is the largest health care facility in the northern corridor and almost half a billion dollars is being spent, including $281.4 million in State and Australian Government funding to deliver significant expansion works including additional beds, theatres and services across JHC’s public and private hospitals to increase capacity and expand its services.
Director of Medical Services, Kevin Hartley sees the desire and support within Joondalup for continued growth in the health and medical space, with a lot of support and collaboration from stakeholders through the Joondalup Medical Precinct Taskforce.
“The Joondalup Medical Precinct Taskforce brings stakeholders together to work towards a shared vision and collaborate on projects for the benefit of participants and the wider community,” Kevin said.
“We’re already seeing the benefits of this collective approach, which also aligns with the City’s focus on digital innovation – another key area that’s important to help grow the health and medical capacity of the region.”
Linear Research, a major provider of clinical trials in Western Australia, opened in Joondalup in 2022 joining leading education providers ECU, North Metropolitan TAFE and the Australian Medical Association College, WA.
Linear Research Chief Executive Officer Jayden Rogers chose Joondalup as Linear’s second WA location due to its growing population base, existing healthcare infrastructure, and established relationships and engagement with other health care services and providers.
“What Joondalup has done well is not just recreate capability that exists elsewhere but identify where the strengths lie and build capability that adds to the broader healthcare system,” Jayden said.
“The willingness of Joondalup’s stakeholders to come together is as good as I’ve seen anywhere. There is a real solution oriented, future focus, which is quite refreshing.”
Professor Lisa Whitehead, ECU’s Director of the Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Science Research, agrees that Joondalup has many opportunities that will improve the health and wellbeing of the community.
ECU Joondalup offers undergraduate nursing and midwifery programs, courses for those already registered as a nurse or midwife and the School are active in conducting research to improve healthcare practice and health outcomes.
“Collaboration with industry is something that defines our projects and all our studies are undertaken with hospital service providers or community groups,” Lisa said.
“JHC is one of our strongest collaborators and we’ve been working together for many years on research projects. We have a lot of student placements with JHC and support their staff to undertake further education at ECU, so it’s a beneficial partnership both ways”.
ECU Joondalup is also helping to improve the health and wellbeing of the community through its Centre for Precision Health, which brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers focussed on applying a precision health model to the key priorities of cancer, neurological conditions, and chronic and metabolic conditions.
The Centre’s Director, Professor Simon Laws notes that having a critical mass of knowledge, infrastructure and cross fertilisation of ideas all in the one place has facilitated the growth of a health ecosystem in Joondalup.
“Having everything right here in Joondalup means that we can improve throughput, undertake more timely analysis of data, and decrease risks” Simon said.
“We no longer need to send samples over east or elsewhere in WA – we can do it all here in Joondalup”.
A Joondalup Health and Medical Precinct will not only improve innovative research opportunities, but also patient outcomes and the wellbeing of the growing community.
The Joondalup Health and Medical Hub will deliver economic benefits, improved patient outcomes and provide innovative research and teaching opportunities, benefitting more than 500,000 people living within 20 minutes of the Joondalup City Centre.
A successful Health and Medical Precinct within Joondalup not only improves health outcomes for the local population; it also delivers benefits to local, state and national economies – from job creation, economic growth and investment.
Supported by its recently commissioned Medical Gap Analysis, Joondalup is positioned as an innovative health and medical hub to attract industry investment and talent and contribute to the region’s bold, creative and prosperous future.
Find out more at business@joondalup.wa.gov.au or visit joondalup.wa.gov.au/invest
