To visit our general transition homepage click  here.

Transition in the diabetes service 

Contact with your diabetes team when you are a young person will focus on helping you become more independent and preparing for adult services. As you get older you will have the chance to meet members of the adult diabetes team alongside your current team at your clinic appointments. When you are ready, your diabetes team will refer you to the adult diabetes team and share with them a summary of your transition preparation.

Transferring from the adolescent diabetes team to the adult diabetes team can happen between the ages of 16-19 years old. As everyone is individual and will be ready at different times, the team will work with you to think about when and how the move can be best planned. Preparing for transition starts in your early teens and continues into early adulthood. When you first transfer to the adult diabetes service you will be seen in the young adult clinic up to the age of 25 years. 

Who can help you with this? 

You and your parents will already know a great deal about diabetes. At the start of the transition process your diabetes team will ask you what you know about your diabetes management and give you further information and support to ensure you are ready.

Your parents may have been important in helping you manage your diabetes. It is good to talk together about how you can manage your health and independence. You can help in this process by starting to ask more questions during your clinic appointments, keeping important numbers in your phone and contacting the team yourself outside of clinic appointments. 

During transition your diabetes team will help you prepare for adult services by: 

• Ensuring you have the knowledge and skills to maximise your diabetes control
• Helping you reach the diabetes management goals you set yourself
• Seeing you for part/all of your clinic appointment on your own
• Introducing you to the adult diabetes team and coming along to a clinic with you where possible
• Making sure you know when to get help and who to contact in an emergency
• Helping you manage the impact of diabetes on your lifestyle as you get older

When you are ready your adolescent diabetes team will refer you to the adult diabetes and share with them a summary of your transition preparation.

Will the adult service be different?

The main difference is that you will be more independent in managing your diabetes, managing your care and making decisions for yourself. However this does not mean you should be doing it alone - even as adults, we all need support from the people around us. You will be given all of the information to help you make the right choice for you and you can be guided and supported by your parents and friends. 

Your diabetes team will describe to you ways in which the adult clinic will differ from those you are used to. Before you are offered an appointment with the adult diabetes team you will have the opportunity to meet members of your new team in the young people's diabetes clinic. Following this you will be asked to come to a young adult clinic with young people up to the age of 25 years old. 

If you are admitted to an adult hospital your parents won't normally stay with you overnight. Talk to your diabetes team if you are worried about this. You can have your parents/carers to visit during the day.

The following pages contain information to help you manage your diabetes, understand the type of diabetes you have and know about the care we can provide for you.