"Our son's care"

Our son has paranoid schizophrenia and has very complex needs. He worries that people are trying to control him through the TV and radio and is generally very difficult to care for at home. He now lives in supported housing and we're generally happy with his care. It's not perfect but he is a fairly difficult case and we think they do their best for him.

The one thing we do get very frustrated with is the struggle we have to be heard. As carers, and parents, our views should be considered very important and we certainly want to be involved in his care. That's the main reason we're now engaged with the North Staffs Combined consultations, because we want to have a say in the decisions the trust make in delivering care to adults with mental health problems.

The trusts 5 key objectives should include something that recognises the value of listening to carers, and using their unique knowledge to provide the best care possible to the person they care for. There is an entire unpaid workforce out there, who provide care to people day in, day out and they're not recognised anywhere nearly enough. If we all stopped doing what we're doing, the NHS would have to spend millions of pounds more money on caring for the members of the community who are particularly in need.

We would like carers to be seen as far more important than they are now seen. If the trust is really committed to listening to carers, why not make this one of the trusts key objectives? Doesn't that make sense?