Table 1 Structural and operational characteristics of Floresco
From: A mixed methods evaluation of an integrated adult mental health service model
Characteristic | Detail |
|---|---|
Service area | • Floresco serves residents of Ipswich — a city within the Greater Brisbane metropolitan area, to the west of Brisbane city — and surrounding areas. This service area comprises a mix of urban and rural communities, and includes large areas of relatively high socioeconomic disadvantage [18]. |
Staffing profile | • Aftercare employed a service manager, part-time clinical team leader, intake officer, and receptionist/administrative assistant. • The three partner NGOs each employed two mental health support workers. |
Service types | • Personalised support • Group support • Mutual support and self-help • Family support • Carer support |
Payment arrangements | • All Floresco services are delivered free of charge. Psychosocial support services delivered by the consortium NGOs are funded by the Queensland Government; other community support services delivered by co-located NGOs (not part of the consortium) are also directly funded by the Queensland and/or Australian Governments. • Co-located private GPs and allied health practitioners agree, as part of their agreement with the Floresco consortium, not to charge clients for their services. Aftercare bills the Australian Government on their behalf, under the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and retains a proportion of MBS payments to cover its costs (administrative services, practitioner rooms, etc.). This arrangement is designed to provide an income stream from which to fund the delivery of additional services to those funded by the Queensland and Australian Governments. |
Integration mechanisms | • Co-location: all Floresco services are located in the same building • A single triage, intake and assessment process, so that clients have to tell their story only once • A single care plan • Shared client information system, so that all providers involved in an individual’s care can access and update information on that person’s recovery journey • Single practice manual of policies and procedures • Single brand name and logo for use throughout the centre, to minimise confusion for clients • A single outcomes measure — the RAS–DS — for assessing mental health recovery • A single measure of client satisfaction — the Your Experience of Service (YES) questionnaire • Collaborative governance through a Governance Committee comprising representatives from the four consortium NGOs, the local MHS, and several other local community service providers. |