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Shared clients: health, mental health, and social characteristics of high users of the health, justice, and community and social support systems
(PolicyWise for Children & Families, 2019-07-19) Scott, Allison; Lifeso, Natasha; Piatt, Carley; Zhang, Yunqi; Cui, Xinjie
High users of multiple systems (sometimes called complex needs individuals) are a small proportion of the population that require a significant number of services. This report profiled young adults who are high users of multiple systems from 2005/06 to 2009/10 and followed them across time to determine their outcomes in 2010/11. Young adults that were in the top 10% of emergency department users, considered prolific offenders (5+ criminal offences), and received income support were described as ‘Shared Clients’. Analyses compared Shared Clients to young adults without these patterns. This report found that high users of multiple systems had more complex needs and were more likely to have negative outcomes over time. These findings provide evidence that a cooperative and integrative approach to service delivery between ministries and service providers may improve outcomes for shared clients.