Collaborative relationships ingeneral practice projects

Abstract

This article reports on a national study of collaborative relationships between generalpractitioners and other health care providers in 20 Division of General Practiceprojects. It argues that health care organisations will need to collaborate with othersin the future and that much can be learnt from the literature on collaborativenetworks in business and community organisations. Successful collaborations betweengeneral practitioners and others were found to be consistent with a model ofcollaboration in 'under-organised domains', where pre-existing links betweenorganisations are weak. Lessons are identified from the study to assist futurecollaborative ventures involving general practitioners.