21 September 2021

By Charlotte Dann, Respiratory Nurse Specialist, Royal Brompton Hospital

Once a young person in our care gets to around 14 years old, we start to think about transition. A couple of years later – around the age of 16 or 17 years – young people either move to our adult service, to a local hospital or back to the care of their GP. Everyone is different and we tailor their plan to what is best for each person individually.

The transition process is so important for children and young people. It includes the young person’s health condition, their lifestyle and level of independence as well as preparation for how adult services work. Adult care can be a bit different as the healthcare professionals involved expect you to be a bit more independent. The adult and the children’s teams at the Royal Brompton work really closely together to ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible and is set up to meet the person’s needs.

The transition process is also a chance for both the family and the young person to ask questions and potentially meet the healthcare professionals who will be looking after them in the future.

We model our transition process on the ‘Ready Steady Go’ concept. This is where the process of transition is broken down into 3 stages (‘getting ready’, ‘steady’ and ‘go’) and there are criteria for each stage to cover so it is not so overwhelming.

Each stage covers the same principles but goes into more depth as the person becomes more confident with managing their condition, in this case their asthma. The areas covered are:

• Knowledge about the condition
• Self-advocacy (speaking up for yourself)
• Health and lifestyle
• Daily living
• School
• Your future
• Leisure
• Managing your emotions
• Transfer to adult care

Thank you for reading this blog. I hope it has helped get a better insight and understanding of our role in the transition process. As I say to my patients and families, if you have a question or query, please just ask. This is what we do and we are here for you.

See more from #AskAboutAsthma 2021