ARE YOU A YOUNG PERSON WITH A BURN INJURY? IS YOUR CARE MOVING BETWEEN CHILD AND ADULT BURNS SERVICES?
Transition Stories“We are here to help you take the next step forward with your burns care”
About us
This website is for young people transitioning from children’s burns services. As a young person with a burn you may be moving on to an adult service within the same hospital, or maybe an adult service within a different hospital. Many young people who have had a burn injury as a child build up strong and supportive relationships with the burns team at their children’s hospital. Having to move on can be a scary prospect but can be an exciting change too! Hopefully it will feel like saying ‘hello again’ … a friendly welcome from the adult burn care team!
This website aims to provide a helpful source of information for young people, their parents/carers and health professionals, to ensure that anyone making this move into adult burn care or away from care within the children’s hospital setting will find the experience as smooth as possible.
You may also find some aspects of this website useful if you are young person living with a burn injury, whether or not you are ‘transitioning’ on to adult services.
Transition in burn care
When health professionals start to discuss transition with you, they are talking about moving your care to adult burns services. The process of transition is not something that happens suddenly, it is a gradual process. This allows time for you and your family to get used to the idea and to plan ahead. Transition is about making plans with you – not about you.
We understand that moving away from a team of doctors and nurses that you have been with for many years can be scary. Hopefully, by getting involved in the transition process, you will feel more confident and happier about the move. Some people feel really ready for their care to be moved to a more adult setting, while others find it hard to leave behind the people and places they are familiar with.
Transition is usually mentioned to you by the children’s burn service when you are about 14 years old if your burns team think that you are likely to need on-going burns care beyond the age of 16 years. Most young people transitioning to adult burn care services will do so at some stage between their 16th and 18th birthday.
Acknowledgements
There are a lot of people who have contributed to the development of this website that should be thanked for their contribution!
Young people attending the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Paediatric Burns Service and Burns Camp (part of Central Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust), who have contributed their thoughts and fears about the transition process.
Young adults attending the Manchester Burns Service at the University Hospital of South Manchester and National Young Adult Camp, funded by Dans Fund for Burns, who have shared their experiences of transition and consulted on drafts of this webpage.
The Clinical Psychologist’s Service Development Group of the Northern Burn Care Network, who worked together to create the content.
Ultimate Creative Communication for their creative design and website development.
And finally, this project was made possible through funding from Dan’s Fund for Burns, a registered burns charity.