Shared care for people with mental illness: A GP's perspective

Shared care in mental health is now a policy imperative in England and Wales, yet its meaning, form and function are still open to debate. In this article, I discuss the benefits of and barriers to a shared care approach, explain how policy is currently driving practice in this area, discuss recent shared care initiatives and highlight some of the tensions inherent in the approach, particularly from the view point of patients. I also give some of the key factors that need to be in place within a 'whole systems' approach to ensure that shared care moves from the rhetoric of the statute book to everyday practice.