Transition
Key facts
- The process of preparing and planning to move from children’s (paediatric) to adult health services is called transition
- There are many areas of transition in life, such as moving from education into work, or moving away from home. The transition from paediatric to adult services is another step towards being an adult
- There’s no fixed age for transition to start
- Usually by the age of 18 you will have transferred from paediatric to adult services
- If you’re diagnosed close to the age of 18 you might be seen by adult services straightaway
- The Ready Steady Go transition programme is used by some NHS Trusts. It is a programme that supports young people and their parents with transition
Ready Steady Go
Ready Steady Go is a programme to help you gain the knowledge and skills to manage your condition. It’s designed to help people with the transition process and learn what they can about managing their long-term health condition. It’s for young people with any long-term condition that are moving into adult care.
If your hospital doesn’t use the Ready Steady Go programme, it’s still possible to use the resources that are part of it for free. Looking at the questionnaires might help you with any questions you have about the transition process.
Top tips
- Think about transition as a process of becoming more independent
- If you are 16 and transition hasn’t been talked about yet, add it to the list of questions to ask your epilepsy doctor or nurse
- If you don’t have an epilepsy specialist nurse, check if one is available in your area
- If you have always had someone with you at appointments, try having some time alone at your appointments
- Make a list of questions you have before your appointments
- You are likely to meet new doctors and nurses and leave behind people you know. It’s natural to have concerns when things are changing. Talk about any worries that you have
- Be kind to yourself, transition is a period of change. It involves getting used to a different service and learning about the skills you need to manage your epilepsy. It can take time to adjust
Be proactive
Moving away from a team of doctors and nurses that you have got to know can be unsettling. Hopefully, by getting involved in the transition process, you will feel more confident and happier about the move. Looking through this website is a good way to help yourself learn more about epilepsy.
What questions do you have about your epilepsy? Make a note of them.
Need to talk to someone?
Becoming an adult can be daunting for anybody, let alone when you also have to manage a chronic condition like epilepsy.
Rest assured, you never have to be alone with this. Find out the multiple ways in which Epilepsy Action is here to support you.