What rights do I have as a carer?
If the person you care for can’t make a decision about their health care without help, you have the right to be involved. This is true whether you are an adult carer, a young carer under 16, or a paid or unpaid carer.
As the person’s carer, you should be involved in decisions about their
health care. But you do not have the right to make any final decisions
unless you are the person’s legal proxy (you can find out more about legal
proxies here).
If you know what the person you care for wants, you should
tell the health professional looking after them. Any information you
give health professionals should be kept in the person’s health record.
This means that:
- you can say what you think about any planned health care or treatment
- your views should be taken into account when a final decision is made about the care and treatment
- you have the right to disagree with a decision
- you have the right to ask for a second opinion from another doctor if you are unhappy with the decision that the health professional or the legal proxy has made (you can find out more about legal proxies here)
- you have the right to go to court about a decision
- if you would like written information about the care and treatment to take away, you should say so.
Page last edited: 28 June 2011