Objective: To describe the phenomenon of collocation in a metropolitan mental health service.
Conclusions: Collocation is the locating of private and public mental health sectors in a joint working relationship. In the context of increasing numbers of clients referred to a public Community Mental Health Service, a restricted ability to refer clients to other practitioners, a limited number of medical officer hours available and a new purpose built premises with spare rooms, the Service investigated and implemented a model of collocation. This in effect locates private and public psychiatrists together, working from the same premises. Collocation has been a modest local initiative increasing cooperation between the public and private sector and partially increasing consumer choice and private psychiatrist availability
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