Healthcare transition

Healthcare transition is the process for patients to become more independent in managing their own health needs and having a better understanding of their own clinical condition.

Whether you transition to adolescent or adult services or discharged from hospital care, we want to provide you with the tools to understand your condition and empower you to manage it through planning and preparation, to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible.

Transition is a gradual process of change, which gives everyone time to ensure that you are prepared and feel ready to make the move to adult health care. That is why at GOSH we aim to start the process from the age of 12 years old, to match with when you go to secondary school. Unless specified by the clinician.

The healthcare transition process can vary from person to person and can also vary by speciality. However, we will aim to communicate this with you in your clinic appointments. Some services may continue at GOSH for longer or shorter periods depending on the child's individual treatment plans.

Some young people move to adolescent services from the age of 12 years, otherwise, the young person may begin to transfer to adult services between the ages of 16 to 18 years old. It is important to speak to your healthcare team to see what your transition will look like.

Often young people will also be experiencing other transitions at similar times, such as moving from secondary to sixth form or starting work so we will aim to work in collaboration with you and your family to support a smooth transition process, avoiding potentially busy times.

To understand more about healthcare transition, you can visit the Growing up, Gaining Independence tab (Hyperlink). And speak with your clinical teams about what transition looks like for you.

A great way to start being more involved is by signing up to ‘My Gosh’ where you can have a proxy account alongside your parents. This way you can start to see your letters and speak with your clinical teams.

To help you through transition, we will ask you to complete the ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ documentation prior to your appointments so we can work with you and educate you on your health conditions and how you can manage this when you are at school, out with friends or need to speak to someone about your health. We will do this with you each year, to see if the conversations had are helping you and identify what topics to discuss so that you can be prepared as you enter adulthood and transition into an adolescent or adult service.

We know that approaching a move to adolescent or adult care can be a scary time for you and your family. However, as you get older, you will start to take more responsibility for things like medicines and treatments, just like you take on more responsibility in other areas of life, so we want to make sure we provide you the knowledge and skills to do this.

Healthcare transition can also be a difficult time for your family as well. So, it is important to communicate with your family as you go through the healthcare transition process. It can take time to get used to handing over some of the responsibility of cares.

Young people in adult services are generally seen as being independent. The transition process often involves ensuring that you have all the skills necessary to feel comfortable in the adult health care service.

In children’s services, parents are given the responsibility for managing young people’s health care, communicating with health care professionals and making important decisions. This is different to adult services, where the responsibility is usually given to the patient rather than the family.

However, your family will still be able to support and advice you if you want them to.

Download our transition workbook for patients.

At GOSH, we value the role that families have in the health of children and young people. Because of this, we feel that parents have a great deal of valuable experience to offer young people who are in the transition process.

Families will often be able to give young people tips on how to organise appointments, find out information, remember medicines and treatments and which questions to ask during admission, ward rounds and clinics.

Families can also support young people in gradually developing independence and becoming more involved in their health care.

Topics for you to think about with your family and discuss might include the topics covered in Growing up gaining independence (Link)

There might be some aspects of growing up with a medical condition or disability that have not been discussed.

For example, you may have questions about how your condition might affect your adult life, in relation to things like career choices, benefits, relationships or family planning.

It is a good idea for you to discuss these things with your GOSH team, who will be able to advise you or put you in contact with appropriate organisations that can help.

Support groups and charities can sometimes offer valuable support to young people and families who are going through the transition process. It may also be useful to speak with other teenagers who are getting ready for adult services.

Alternatively, you can access the organisation Contact, who can provide support to the young person with disabilities and their family, to access resources to support transitioning into adulthood.

The most difficult thing for some families is to break contact with the children’s service once the move to adult services has happened. Once you have been discharged, it is important to communicate with your new team or with your local GP.

The 'Ready, Steady, Go' website has access to alternative language options if English is not your first language.

At present we do not have ready-made alternative languages for the other documentation, but if you need support or interpretation, please contact:

Telephone: healthcaretransition@gosh.nhs.uk

Share your experience anonymously with the healthcaretransition@gosh.nhs.uk and we can upload these onto the patient stories page.