Shared care & referral
Introduction
Good quality general practice care for a patient with alcohol and / or drug problems will often involve referral and / or shared care. There is an extensive network of services now equipped to deal with patients with AOD problems.
Referral and shared care requires an understanding of:
- the complexity of successful AOD referral
- reasons for referring or not referring
- types of available services and good referral practice
- definition and rationale of shared care
- mechanisms to ensure shared care arrangements are adopted and maintained