All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health focuses on carers

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health held a session on mental health carers on the 13 May 2008, chaired by Lynne Jones MP. This joint briefing on our hopes for the Carers Strategy was attended by carers, service users, professionals from statutory and voluntary agencies, as well as members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Carers.

Ivan Lewis, Minister for Care Services, spoke about the New Deal for Carers and the upcoming National Carers Strategy, highlighting some of the key messages from carers including requests for “a life of my own” and to have the “system on my side”.

Despite many improvements in mental health services following the introduction of the 10 year National Service Framework for Mental Health in 1999, the minister admitted that “carers of people with mental health problems are not a whole lot better off”. Acknowledging the difficulties involved with confidentiality in mental health and the frustration that carers can experience with lack of information, Ivan Lewis said that there was a clear need to have an open and honest dialogue about this issue though "there are no easy answers".

Drew Lindon, mental health lead for The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, spoke about the needs for carers services to be available in all areas, more consistent identification and support of carers by mental health professionals nationally and better sharing of information with carers. He outlined that whilst arrangements on sharing information in individual cases will differ, it is vital to tackle this issue early on and develop agreements between the service user, carer(s) and professionals over what information can be shared and under what circumstances.

Other speakers included Sanchia Redston, a mental health carer, who spoke about her years of experience caring for members of her family and of the support she had received from her local Rethink group. Brendan Hayes, Director of Mental Health and Nursing for the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Trust also spoke about his Trust’s development of services for mental health carers in Northamptonshire, including dedicated carers support staff in mental health teams, involvement in planning and decision making and future goals, including a carers information line.

Overall, the meeting was positive about the changes which the Carers Strategy and New Deal for Carers can bring, though a number of members emphasised the need for the Strategy to be implemented effectively.

Related information:

Notes from meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health are available on Lynne Jones MP's website

Find out more about the The National Service Framework for Mental Health 1999