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Wolverhampton Information Network

SEND - moving from children's to adult health care services

As your child is getting older, you will be thinking about the future. You may have heard people discussing transition. In healthcare, we use the term transition to describe the process of planning, preparing and moving from children's to adult health care services.

Transition is a gradual process of change which gives everyone time to ensure that the young person and their family are prepared and feel ready to make the move to adult health care services. The process should start at around 14 years of age.

The first stage is to develop a transition plan, giving an overview to all your child's health and educational needs that is:

  • Holistic - taking into account all your child’s physical and mental education and social needs and wishes.
  • Person-centred - allowing your child to have a choice and control over their life and keeping their wishes and needs at the centre of everyone's thinking.
  • Accessible - easily understood without having medical or specialist knowledge.
  • Dynamic - constantly under review and updated according to your child’s changing and developing needs.

If your child has an on-going health condition, this can be a worrying time for many young people and families. Families may worry about how their child's needs will be addressed in young adulthood. This is a time in a young person's life of significant change and so the manner in which the care is transferred to the adult healthcare system is crucial to the continuing wellbeing of the young person and so our service is committed to making this transition as smooth and seamless as possible.

All buildings are risk assessed in line with trust and national protocol, to meet the needs of the clients and staff.

Our service is monitored internally within the organisation to ensure quality of the service that we deliver. This monitoring is in line with quality standards that the service is expected to work to in the guidelines of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

To find out more view information about Transitions Clinical Nurse Specialist.

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