Community treatment for heavy users of private mental health services: Who benefits?

Much attention has been paid recently to the possibilities offered by the development of integrated services across the public and private sectors. In mental health a variety of models have been proposed and trials implemented. This article describes the advantages of a model of public-private integration that addresses the needs of private heavy service users. The model takes advantage of the increasing expertise within the public sector in managing complex and severe mental health problems in community settings and seeks to address the lack of availability of this type of resource for private sector patients