Private and public psychiatry: a comparison of two health care systems

Psychiatrists in Australia and New Zealand are similarly trained, but the health care delivery systems in each country differ. Australia has unlimited insurance for fee-for-service private practice and has twice the psychiatrists and half the psychiatric beds per capita as New Zealand. Psychiatrists in the public sector in each country focus on hospital-based care of psychotic patients. Private-sector psychiatrists, in addition to caring for psychotic patients, also focus on psychotherapy for neuroses and personality disorders. The Australian combination of more psychiatrists in private office practice and fewer public hospital beds costs less than the New Zealand system, which supports only public-sector, hospital-based services.