Transition from the Paediatric Allergy Services

This leaflet gives information about your move from children’s allergy services to adult allergy services.

What does transition mean?

Transition is the process where we plan and prepare you for the handover of your allergy care from children’s services to your GP or local adult allergy services.

As a teenager, moving to adult services is a natural step. It is important for you to develop independence in your allergy care, as you do in other areas of your life.

Making this change, which might be at hospital or with your GP, may be stressful. This is to be expected, particularly if you have been coming to the children’s department for a while and are used to the staff and how we run our clinics.

By talking about the transition, and planning for it in advance, we hope to reduce your stress and make sure that the process is as smooth as possible.

Do you have to move to adult services?

As you get older, some of the things you want to discuss or the care you might need, are not properly provided by the children’s services. You might also prefer to be seen in a more grown-up environment rather than being surrounded by young children, toys, and noise.

Can you choose which adult allergy service you move to?

Part of the transition process will look at the service that best meets your allergy needs. Most 18-year-olds can be discharged from our service back to their GP, unless they need ongoing specialist allergy care. If this is the case for you, you will be referred to the most appropriate service locally, usually a consultant in adult allergy and immunology.

How it works

At Dorset County Hospital we use a transition document called Ready Steady Go. Within this document there are three phases to the transition process which are explained below:

1. Planning phase (12 to 14 years) ‘Ready’: We will introduce the idea of transition to you. We will talk about how much you already know about your allergies, and how to manage them.
2. Preparation phase (14 to 16 years) ‘Steady’: We will start to encourage you to have some of your appointment time with your doctor or nurse on your own and discuss a plan for transition.
3. Transfer phase (16 to 18 years) ‘Go’: We will talk with you about how ready you are to move to adult services, and make sure you have the information you need about your allergies.

Who can help you?

There are lots of people who will support you before and during the move to adult services. These include nurses, doctors, dietitians, your GP and your school nurse. They can help you by:

• teaching you about your allergies and how to manage them
• making sure you know who to contact in an emergency, including when and how
• working through situations relating to your allergies
• making sure you know what support networks are available (including charities)
• helping you understand how your allergies might affect your future education and career plans
• helping you feel comfortable and confident in talking to the doctors, nurses, and dietitians about your allergies on your own.

Your family

Your family have been responsible for looking after your health since you were young, and they might continue to be involved in your allergy care during the transition to the adult services.

It is important to realise that your parents might find it difficult handing over responsibility to you and realising that you are becoming an adult.

Try to talk to them about how you feel, and discuss practical issues with them too, such as making appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, and asking questions in clinic.

Questions for your allergy team

Here are some questions you might like to ask your allergy team:

• When will I be moving to the adult services?
• Can I choose the adult service I move to?
• What is different about the adult service?
• Can I meet the adult team before I move to them?
• Will I always have allergies?
• Will my allergies affect my plans for my future such as travel, university, or work?

Contact numbers

We hope that you have found this information useful. If you have any questions or are worried about anything, please speak to the following Dorset County Hospital staff:

Allergy Nurse Specialist Juliet Lyus: 01305 254279
Consultant: Dr Wylie (secretary): 01305 253331
Consultant: Dr Newman (secretary): 01305 253331

Useful information

Anaphylaxis UK
Helpline and information service about severe allergic reactions, phone 01252 542029 or visit www.anaphylaxis.org.uk

Allergy UK
Helpline and information service to support people with allergies, phone: 01322 619898 or visit www.allergyuk.org

About this leaflet

Author: Juliet Lyus, Paediatric Allergy Nurse Specialist
(Reproduced and adapted with kind permission of Royal Cornwall Hospitals)
Written: March 2024
Approved: June 2024
Review date: June 2027

If you have feedback regarding the accuracy of the information contained in this leaflet, or if you would like a list of references used to develop this leaflet, please email patientinformation.leaflets@dchft.nhs.uk