A survey of publicly funded aged psychiatry services in Australia and New Zealand.
OBJECTIVE
To map the size and distribution of publicly funded aged psychiatry (psychogeriatric) services in Australia and New Zealand in 2003.


METHODS
Services were tracked exhaustively through personal, professional and academic contacts, electronic searches and word-of-mouth. Directors or managers of services were asked to complete a brief questionnaire concerning their locality, services, staff profile and patient contacts.


RESULTS
Services varied widely with respect to their numbers, size and community outreach. Victoria was the only Australian state to provide specialist, multidisciplinary aged psychiatry teams with community, acute inpatient and residential arms in all its major cities. New South Wales, the state with the largest aged population, performed relatively poorly on most indicators. New Zealand performed relatively well despite its small size and widely dispersed population.


CONCLUSIONS
Publicly funded aged mental health services are effective and reach frail, multiply disabled old people who cannot access private psychiatrists and are often overlooked by services for younger adults. At the time of our survey, such services were distributed in Australia in a highly inequitable fashion.
O'Connor
Daniel
D
Department of Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. daniel.oconnor@med.monash.edu.au
Melding
Pamela
P
D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005852:Geriatric Psychiatry / Q000191:economics*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D009520:New Zealand; D017150:Public Sector / Q000191:economics*; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires