NICE guidance to help tackle transition from children's to adult services
9 Jun 2014 03:01 PM
NICE is developing
guidance to help tackle the gaps in care sometimes experienced by young people
with health needs, as they move from children's to adult
services.
More than 40,000 people in
England aged under-18 have complex health needs caused by physical
disabilities, special education needs, or life-limiting or life-threatening
conditions.
Such young people often rely on
a range of therapies and treatments, which can get complicated as they move
from children's and adult services.
This move, known as transition,
is a vulnerable time for young people and their families. This is because they
may stop receiving services they have received since birth or at a young age,
or they may lose continuity in care.
Today, a report published by the Care Quality
Commission (CQC) on the transition process highlights many of the problems that
often occur.
The report found that some
families are confused and distressed by the lack of information and support
given to them, that certain children's services stop before their
equivalent services start, and that there is a general variation in
people's experience across the country.
The report has four key
recommendations, which include listening to young people and families and
involving them in their care, ensuring GPs are more involved in planning for
transition at an earlier stage, and ensuring services are tailored to meet the
needs of young people in transition.
To address these issues, NICE is
producing a guideline on the transition from children's to adult
services, the scope of which is announced today.
The guideline will make
recommendations that focus specifically on ‘what works' for young
people in transition. Among the areas it will cover are:
- activities to ensure that young
people and their carers are involved in, and informed about, the way that their
transitions from children's services are planned and delivered care
planning, coordination and assessment
- interventions to support
effective transitions organisational frameworks for
transition
- training of staff working with
young people in transition, in children's and adult
services
- joint working between
children's and adult services
- advocacy
- barriers to, and facilitators
of, good transition practice
- improvement to adult
services
Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy
Chief Executive and Director of Health and Social Care at NICE, said: "For
many young people on the cusp of adulthood, moving between child and adult
health and social care services can be a tumultuous and stressful time. NICE is
developing practical guidance to supplement existing policy and help health and
social care practitioners tackle this important issue."
She added: "It's vital
that services work together and involve young people and their families and
carers so that they receive consistent care and support.
"A poor transition between
child and adult services can have a profound and long-lasting negative impact
on a person's life, potentially affecting education and employment
opportunities, as well as their long-term independence. The last thing we want
is for young people to fall between the gap in child and adult services and not
get the support or care they need."
Commenting on the report,
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice at the Care Quality
Commission, said: "It is unacceptable that young people and their families
are being excluded from planning and decision-making about their care and for
them to be without essential services or equipment temporarily, while
arrangements are resolved.
"While our review found
many committed professionals who provide excellent care, there needs to be a
system-wide change, with commissioners and providers of health and social care
working together at every level."