Talking about family involvement with patients

We need to use clear, familiar language and explain what we mean. For example, instead of “would you like to give consent for family to be involved in your healthcare?”, it will be more helpful to break things down:

• Is there someone at home who might be able to help you with your health? Lots of people find it can be really helpful to have family supporting you with [condition].
• If there’s someone at home who might be able to help you give us a clearer picture of your health problems, we could get in touch with them.
• There are different ways we could get in touch with them: we could reassure them that you’re being looked after without sharing anything specific, we could ask them some questions to help us understand what you need, or we could share some information about how your health is at the moment, if you’d like.
• Is there anything you’d like us not to share?
• Would you like us to contact anyone if your health problem gets worse?
• It’s a good idea to check understanding once you have agreed an approach, and to revisit it in future consultations. 

Feedback loop with families

Wherever possible, we should aim to feed back to families to let them know that any information or concerns they have shared have been noted. This avoids significant worry and frustration, and does not require consent. 

Who, what, when and where

We recommend advising patients before any general engagement between healthcare and families takes place (such as healthcare forums), to pre-empt any worries that individual cases may be discussed.

For both patients and families, timing is important. For patients, practitioners will need to use their judgement in raising questions about family involvement. If a patient is feeling distressed or overwhelmed, it may not be a good time to have a detailed conversation about consent, but if that person does have positive family relationships, it may be a reassurance to hear that they can benefit from support with health. 

When engaging with families (especially in the Visitor Centre), bear in mind that visits can be an emotional time. Visiting time should be protected time for family to engage with their loved ones, so we do not recommend planning for any healthcare engagement to take place in the Visits Hall during visiting time. 

Spotlight on consent and confidentiality   

Some more information about consent and confidentiality is available here: Sharing information with unpaid carers - NHS England Digital