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Mary Ann Kelly was prompted to use family trees to help people with dementia after reading a continuing professional development article. Nursing Standard. 15, 17,47-53

The article informs that the community health mental health team where the author worked as a community psychiatric nurse (CPN) a few years ago had a referral from a GP for a woman in her thirties with anxiety and depression. When he went to assess this patient, he discovered that she was the daughter of a previous patient of mine--her mother having had chronic schizophrenia. Nina, the new patient, had been offered a wide range of treatments in the past but had never spoken about growing up with a mother who had schizophrenia.

Teenage carers met nurses, doctors, political and NHS leaders at London Zoo to highlight the health and social care needs of an estimated 166,000 young carers in England.

Royal college of psychiatrists, leeds, 28 february

Learning disability practitioners should drop any barriers that stop relatives from contributing to the care being delivered to older service users, according to Andrew Fairburn, the medical director of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust.

A pioneering nurse is leading a pilot programme to tackle physical and mental health problems among young carers.

In the UK, young carers are defined as people under the age of 18 who give regular and ongoing care to a family member, beyond that normally expected of a child ( Phelps 2012 ). They can be doubly burdened by the demands of caring itself and by the effect on development, health and education. Often these problems are compounded by secrecy with children and families often afraid to ask for help ( Smyth et al 2010 ).

Dear Editor, For too long, the needs of young carers have fallen between the growing gap that separates adults’ and children’s services. Recent news coverage has once again highlighted the needs of these children but it is time to move forward and look at implementing solutions.

A letter to the editor that offers a look on the needs of young carers is presented.

How can nursing be made more attractive to younger people? We asked our readers panel.

The article reviews the book "Down's Syndrome and Dementia: A Resource for Carers and Support Staff," by Karen Dodd, Vicky Turk, and Michelle Christmas.