Transition is the process of moving from children and young people’s asthma services to adult services. This includes a preparation period, transfer of care to adult service and continues until the young person has engaged with the adult service, rather than just describing the point at which care transfers to the adult service. It should be as seamless as possible for the young person. It may commence from age 12 onwards and last until 25 depending on the child and / or condition. It requires careful planning and collaborative working between the child / young person, adolescent services and adult services. The process of transition is expected to take longer where a child has multiple, complex needs, but the key feature of transition is that care should remain flexible at all times.
Some useful resources
- NICE guideline 43: Transition from children’s to adults’ services for young people using health or social care services
- NICE quality standard 140: Transition from children’s to adults’ services
- Burdett Trust for nursing : resources
- OHID You’re Welcome standards: Establishing youth-friendly health and care services
- CQC From the pond to the sea: Children’s transition to adult health services
- Moving on asthma – helping teens to transition to adult services with Nicki Barker and Moira Gibbons. Moving on Asthma is a resource for young people living with asthma, developed by the Respiratory Research Team at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
- Transition and health inequalities – Louise Porter, National Lead Nurse, Burdett National Transition Nursing Network at #AskAboutAsthma 2022 conference
- Ensuring effective transition: working with adult respiratory services – Louise Fleming, Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital Trust & Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London at #AskAboutAsthma 2021 conference
- Adolescent to adults: Tips on transition – Sam Prigmore, Consultant Respiratory Nurse at St George’s at #AskAboutAsthma 2020 nurse webinar (slides and recording)
For additional transition resources for children, young people and families, see the children, young people and families section of the London Asthma Toolkit.