How UHDB supports patients transitioning from children's to adult's services
Approaching a move to adult care can be a scary time in a young person’s life, especially if they’ve been accessing children’s services for a long time. As well as receiving care in a new location it means a new clinical team, sharing the ward with adults and developing more independence in caring for their health.
At University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) we have a transition team who are working really hard to train and support clinical teams to focus on transition and make it a supportive process by preparing, planning and supporting young people as they make this move.
Nina Heighington, Wellchild Transition Nurse said: “Outside of the hospital, the transition to adulthood is marked by new responsibilities and pressures. Many of our young people are leaving school, developing new relationships and finding their place in the world. As healthcare professionals we can make their transition to adult services so much smoother by working with our young people to build a bespoke transition package.
“We are encouraging staff at UHDB to empower young people and work with them to plan effectively by encouraging visits to the adult spaces, having an opportunity to ask questions and for teams to link up with their equivalents in children's and adult services to start looking at their transition pathways.
“We have developed electronic transition planning tools to aid teams with this planning and there will be more developments to come.”
We also have an app that offers guidance and support for young people to prepare for transition, during the process and after. You can download it from any app store. Download the Healthzone UK app and search UHDB transition.