Improving transition care for young people

South Aus­tralia is the only Aus­tralian juris­dic­tion that has not invest­ed in a state-wide tran­si­tion ser­vice for young peo­ple with achron­ic condition. 

The part­ner­ship between the Statewide Ado­les­cent Tran­si­tion Care Clin­i­cal Net­work (SATC­CN) and the Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing, iden­ti­fied the health sys­tem is poor­ly equipped to man­age the tran­si­tion of high-risk cohorts, com­plex needs patients, and those from rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties in South Australia. 

The need for a statewide ado­les­cent tran­si­tion frame­work or mod­el of care for South Aus­tralia was iden­ti­fied in:

• South Australia’s Health and Well­be­ing Plan for Wome, Chil­dren and Young Peo­ple 2022 – 2032
• SA Health and Well­be­ing Strat­e­gy 2020 – 2025
• SA Men­tal Health Ser­vices Plan 2020 – 2025.

The project to devel­op the Statewide Ado­les­cent Tran­si­tion Frame­work and Action Plan, will deliv­er a con­tem­po­rary, statewide ado­les­cent tran­si­tion frame­work and action plan that artic­u­lates how SA Health, and its part­ners can deliv­er ado­les­cent tran­si­tion care for young people. 

This cov­ers ages between 12 – 24 years with chron­ic con­di­tions that require tran­si­tion of care from pae­di­atric to adult care services.

The engage­ment approach con­sists of con­sul­ta­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion with stake­hold­ers that have expe­ri­ence with pae­di­atric to adult care tran­si­tion, including:

• Young peo­ple
• Clin­i­cians
• Local health networks
• Pri­ma­ry health care services
• Remote and rur­al ser­vice providers
• Com­mu­ni­ty groups.

A statewide work­shop is cur­rent­ly in devel­op­ment and invi­ta­tions will be sent to key stake­hold­ers in the com­ing weeks. 

Feed­back received from all con­sul­ta­tions will inform and con­tribute to the direc­tion of the South Australia’s Ado­les­cent Tran­si­tion Frame­work and Action Plan.