Ethical and legal obligation of all professionals working in mental health services are governed by law and professional codes of practice in regard to a duty of care to their patient. (Allison et.al 2004)

It can be challenging for people to engage with health care services, and confidentiality assists this by ensuring respect and dignity and by building trust between the service user and health professional.

Family members carers and supporters of people experiencing mental health challenges often have difficulties accessing the information they need to support the person who is unwell. This often leads to feelings of anger and frustration as families may feel excluded from supporting their family member. In Ireland it is not mandatory that the family be involved in the care of the service user.

All service users have the right to choose who is or is not involved in their care and many service users are happy with family/ friend involvement. If a family member feels their loved one are at risk, they have a right to contact the MDT teams and / or their GP to inform them of their concerns by phone or in writing.

On admission your loved one may be very unwell and may not be able to make a decision involving who they choose to be part of their care plan, therefore a request for consent should be revisited at regular intervals.

Health care professionals can encourage family involvement and even if a service user requests no information be given to their family, they can be encouraged to review that decision from time to time. Professionals can still listen to families, who often have essential information that they wish to share,  this information should be kept confidential unless there is a risk to someone.  You can read more about this here.

Health care professionals can provide information that will support families about mental health illnesses and the following resources may be useful in providing answers to questions you may have. They can also be signposted to family peer support services if available in their area.

The Mental Health Commission wrote the Mental Health Act 2001 booklet which you may find helpful.

The aforementioned act is the law that must be followed when providing care and treatment for people who have mental health illnesses.

Regulatory need for consent and data protection poses many difficulties for us in supporting our loved ones, we very often feel pushed back and that our role is being dismissed.

These regulatory factors also prohibit the multidisciplinary team members from disclosing information about our loved one without their consent. However if you are concerned your loved one is at risk of harming themselves or others it important that you communicate this to his or her MDT team.

The Mental Health Act 2001 and regulations underpin the governance of all aspect of mental health care in Ireland.

See information on HSE Confidentiality and Consent, the following document explains the role of all HSE staff in ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of the service user’s data is maintained.

See also the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 which outlines why the HSE and staff need to safeguard the rights of individuals in processing their personal data.

See the Freedom of Information Act 2014 outlining the rights of people in accessing their information held by public bodies.

There is much information in the links above and family peer support workers can support family members with all this. As part of organisational change, family peer support workers are encouraging professionals to have more discussions around family involvement and signposting families to supports such as the Family Peer Support Service.

Note:  The Mental Health Act 2001 is being updated in 2023.