• Carers have the right to a Carers' Assessment
• Carers have the right to their own care plan –a Carers' Support Plan
• There is a requirement that carers are told of their entitlement to a Carers' Assessment

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, in recognising the role of carer, aims to ensure that carers can expect to:

• Be taken seriously when expressing concerns
• Be treated with understanding and respect
• Be informed of the range of relevant services and support available
• Be included in care planning, implementation and review
• Know the names of the members of the support team
• Be consulted about a relative or friend’s discharge plan
• Be helped with problems created or made worse by caring for a relative or friend with a mental illness
• Be encouraged to take time out when required, to prevent ‘burnout’ or to cope with stress
• Be offered a rapid response in an emergency situation
• Be provided with information about mental illness, treatment and possible side effects
• Be provided with information if this is in the best interest of the patient and other members of the family
• Be offered culturally accepted treatment options, which are inclusive of the family
• Be provided with information on methods of complaint
• Receive a mental health service that recognises the importance of family, friends, carer involvement in service planning, implementation and evaluation

Carers' Rights

All carers have recognised legal rights, set out in the following legislation: Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995, Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 and the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004.

As a carer, you are entitled to have your own needs for support assessed by the local statutory services (either mental health services or social services). This is called a carer’s assessment, and anyone who provides, or intents to provide, regular and substantial care (emotional or practical) to another person is entitled to a carer’s assessment.

As a carer, you are entitled to say at any point that you do not wish to continue in the role of carer (and this should be recorded in the notes of the person accessing the mental health services).

National Service Framework (NSF)

The NSF for Mental Health sets out the standards that all local authorities and health trusts should meet in their provision of mental health services.

Standard 6 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health sets out guidance for Carer’s Assessments and Support Plans.

Mental Health Act (1983)

Under the Mental Health Act, if you are identified as the ‘nearest relative’, you may have the right to be given information about the person you care for, their stay in hospital and their treatment (as long as the person agrees).

If the person you support does not consent to sharing information with you about treatment, and they have sufficient understanding, then this may have to be accepted, and although it can be difficult to accept that you are unable to help as much as you would like, there is a legal limit to what is possible.

‘Nearest relative’ is a technical term that does not always mean the same as ‘next of kin’.