<p>NURSES WORKING in primary and community health care potentially have a key role in identifying informal carers, meeting their health needs and ensuring they know of their rights to an assessment under the Carers Act. This role is expanding. The government's strategy Caring About Carers emphasises the importance of providing carers with information, supporting them and maintaining their health and wellbeing (DoH 1999). It intends that carers become part of the healthcare agenda and, to this end, primary care teams and social services staff were expected to have systems in place for identifying carers by April 2000 (DoH 1998).</p>