Baroness Buscombe (Con)

My Lords, perhaps I may quote from our report on the draft Mental Health Bill on this point, while agreeing 100% with both previous speakers. During our evidence sessions, we heard from a number of people who had real concerns about the issue of nominated persons for young people. We heard “that choosing a Nominated Person outside of the family can put pressure on family relationships. Respondents also noted the importance of ensuring that the families and carer are still given a voice in a patient’s treatment even if they are not chosen as the Nominated Person. This is particularly important for children and young people. Additionally, one respondent who identified as a carer of someone with a mental health condition expressed their concern that not all nominated people may know the patient well enough to assist in making decisions in their best interest … Another respondent noted that, for those under 18, there may be overlap between the rights of those with parental authority and those of the Nominated Person”. Our belief during that whole process was that this all seriously needs to be clarified, either in law or in the code of practice. I remember that one respondent was very concerned that young people would assume that a nominated person could be a friend and that the friend would really understand their role, but in some cases that just was not happening.