The New Mental Health Act: Rights of Carers - information for people who care for a service user

7 What are the carers' rights under the Act?

The rights and views of carers must be taken into consideration as much as possible when any decisions about the service user's care and treatment are made. Anyone involved in the care and treatment of the service user must provide carers with the information they need to provide effective care. However, a carer will not receive any information that the service user does not want to have shared.

Carers have the right to attend the Tribunal and present relevant information if the Tribunal considers the carer to have an interest in the application being considered.

A carer has a right to ask their local authority to carry out an assessment of his or her needs. The local authority has a duty to carry out the assessment within fourteen days of the request. If it does not it must let the carer know within this time whether they or the Health Board will carry out an assessment. If the local authority decides not to carry out an assessment they must give their reasons for this.

A carer may be notified by a police constable that the person they care for has been removed to a place of safety because they have a mental disorder and they are in immediate need of care and treatment.

The Act requires that the primary carer has the right to be notified by hospital management when the service user they support is going to be transferred to another hospital in Scotland under the Act. Unless this transfer is urgent (in which case they should be notified as soon as possible after the transfer) they have the right to be informed at least seven days beforehand.