Family caregivers and community nurses: co-experts in care?

Over the last decade, the pivotal role of informal, lay or family caregivers has been legitimized within British social policy. Service providers have been exhorted to make practical support for informal carers a priority (DOH, 1990, 1997). Informal carers have been given 'the right to an assessment of their own needs (DOH, 1996) and the British government has introduced, and promised funding for, a new policy package, outlined in Caring for Carers, A National Strategy for Carers (DOH, 1999).