Partners in care: who cares for the carers?

Little time may be taken to listen to what carers have to say or explain clinical and service policies. The odd 5 minutes at the end of a busy clinic is not enough; being paraded in front of the ward round is simply unacceptable, but it still happens. A 20-mile trip for family carers just as imprisoned by the patient’s mental illness, geographically and financially, may be impossible. Where is the continuity of care for carers, uncertain of roles within the myriad multidisciplinary teams whose hands the patient may pass through, with no key worker for themselves to turn to in crisis, and who have to tell their story to someone different every time they come to hospital?