Transition of care is a dynamic process and implies a planned and structured move from paediatric to adult care. This in practice includes appropriate preparation and discussion with the young person, prior to transfer to a different clinic or service for continuing care.
Our unique service partnership between paediatric and adult neurology at the Portland Hospital provides assessment and bespoke treatment and aftercare of acute and chronic neurological disorders in adolescents and young adults. We start by listening to the patient in a joint paediatric and child neurology consultation.
We created such a service to overcome the challenges of looking after adolescents and young adults.
Our unique consultation has the following benefits:
- Appropriate preparation and discussion with the young person occurs in a timely manner prior to transfer to the adult clinic or service for continuing care; this replaces negative attributions of having a neurological condition even many years afterwards.
- Allows adolescents/young adults to be followed up in a clinic where their common disease-driven and age-associated concerns around employment, driving, and sexual health, are better dealt with appropriately and in a timely manner, than by a purely paediatric neurology service.
- Utilise the clinic’s deliberate emphasis on directing the conversation towards the adolescent rather than the parents, where the adolescent/young adult can be seen alone or examined independently where issues can be discussed without the parents present, as appropriate.
- Provides opportunities to enhance understanding into the diagnosis and management of complex neurological conditions in young adults
Useful websites:
Child Neurology Foundation: https://www.childneurologyfoundation.org/transitions/
Ready Steady Go – Hello to Adult Services: https://www.readysteadygo.net/rsg-hello-to-adult-services-html/