Background: Shared care is promoted as a way of integrating primary and secondary services and achieving one of the targets set for the NHS in the 1990s. We aimed to compose a taxonomy of shared care schemes for chronic disease in order to inform the development of develop shared care.
Methods: A two-phase postal questionnaire survey of Scotland and North West Thames Region, England. In the first phase we identified the number of shared care schemes for chronic disease, which were followed up in the second phase.
Results: Shared care schemes were classified into six groups, or models, according to their method of data transfer. These are: (I) community clinics, where the specialist undertakes a clinic in general practice; (II) basic, where communication comprises the regular exchange of letters or standardized record sheets; (III) liaison, where the hospital team and general practitioner (GP) meet to discuss and agree the management of patients under shared care; (IV) shared care record cards, where the exchange of information is made through a booklet or 'cooperation card', commonly carried by the patient; (V) computer-assisted shared care, where a circuit of information is established between GP and hospital specialist based on data collected at each patient visit and mediated through computer-generated summaries; (VI) electronic mail, where hospital specialist and GP both have access to the same data on patients shared between them.
Conclusion: Despite substantial variation in the operation of shared care, schemes can be broadly classified and constructed in six different ways. In establishing this taxonomy, a choice is offered to health care workers wishing to develop shared care.