The Hamilton (McMaster) psychiatric network: the evolution of an integrated network of psychiatric services.

For 25 years, the Hamilton-Wentworth region has had a well integrated network of psychiatric services. The initial impetus for its establishment came from the founders of the Department of Psychiatry at McMaster University in 1967. They envisaged a regional network of services that integrated the resources of a community-focused university department with those of local community agencies and other mental health care professionals. Over the years, the evolution of the network has been shaped by changes in the size and composition of the faculty, the emergence of additional clinical services and community programs, new directions in the field of psychiatry and changing economic forces and social values.