Moving young people with intellectual disability to adult health services
People with intellectual disability experience poor health outcomes compared with the general population.
Primary Health Tasmania received funding from the Australian Government to improve health outcomes for people with intellectual disability.
The period of moving to adult health services is an important time to ensure young people with intellectual disability receive appropriate support and are connected to the right healthcare services to help manage and maintain their health. Moving to adult health services is called transition.
Collaboration between the young person with intellectual disability, their family/carers, and their healthcare team ensures a more successful transition.
Primary Health Tasmania has developed a framework to support this transition process. The purpose of this work is to provide foundational information. Resources have been developed to consider the journey of a young person with intellectual disability who is transitioning to adult health services. Early planning and preparation are important.
These resources will support young people with intellectual disability, their family/carers, and health professionals throughout the key stages of transition. These stages are outlined below.
A framework for transitioning to adult health services
The transition framework features five key stages:
Discuss – introducing the topic of transitioning to adult health services
Understand – knowing your role in transitioning to adult health services
Plan – making a plan to transition to adult health services
Prepare – getting ready to transition to adult health services
Transition – transitioning to adult health services.
This journey is not linear; young people with intellectual disability may move throughout these stages between the ages of 15 to 25 years.
Resources for young people, their family/carers and health professionals
An overview of the transition journey and accompanying resources/links to further information have been developed for:
It is intended that these groups will access the resources together, reflecting on the role they will each play during the transition.
Click on the links above to access information and resources specific to each group.
Note: Primary Health Tasmania has developed these resources to be used during the transition of young people with intellectual disability to adult services. However, they may be useful in other contexts.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or feedback about this information and resources, please send us an emailor call us on 1300 653 169.
