Call for a new legal right to a Care Supporter

A right to maintain contact

What we want to see:

• A legal right for a person who needs care and support to unrestricted in-person support from at least one essential Care Supporter (a person important to them such as a relative or friend), in private if the person chooses

• A duty on the health and care system, including providers, to facilitate this contact wherever the person is receiving care and support, and regardless of how it is funded (such as hospitals, mental health facilities, care settings, when receiving care in their own home)

• The exercise of the duty on health and care providers to be monitored and enforced by the regulator

• Restrictions on this right to only be permitted where it is necessary to protect from a known and immediate risk of harm from the care supporter (they are infectious or for safeguarding) and must be proportionate to that risk

• An individual assessment must be carried out when considering a restriction on this right, involving the person and those important to them

• Where a restriction on this right is necessary and proportionate, an individual assessment must take place to agree alternative means of contact with that person and an alternative care supporter for private in-person contact