The Northern Clinical School is centred at Royal North Shore Hospital, in the Northern Sydney Area Health Service, which serves a population of nearly one million people. Royal North Shore is an acute general tertiary referral hospital of 685 beds. Every medical specialty is represented. These are closely associated with their surrounding communities. Private hospitals, including Mater Misericordia and Crows Nest, Dalcross at Killara and Sydney Adventist at Wahroonga, the largest private hospital in NSW, provide exposure to private medicine.
Specialised hospitals deal with bone and joint disease, rehabilitation, and psychiatry.
A close and friendly network exists between all the Northern Clinical School hospitals. There are basic and clinical research units in many specialties, including the Kolling Institute of Medical Research, which give graduate students opportunities to join postgraduate students actively involved in research projects. An education and research facility has recently been completed, which enables some of these units, currently spread throughout the hospital, to be brought together into one building. It also houses a medical library, tutorial rooms and student common room. Teaching The emphasis of the Northern Clinical School is on scientific and clinical medical research and on personalised patient care.