Mind how you cross the gap! Outcomes for young people who failed to make the transition from child to adult services: the TRACK study
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Aims and method The Transitions of Care from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services (TRACK) study was a multistage, multicentre study of adolescents' transitions between child and adult mental health services undertaken in England. We conducted a secondary analysis of the TRACK study data to investigate healthcare provision for young people (n = 64) with ongoing mental health needs, who were not transferred from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to adult mental health services mental health services (AMHS). Results The most common outcomes were discharge to a general practitioner (GP; n = 29) and ongoing care with CAMHS (n = 13), with little indication of use of third-sector organisations. Most of these young people had emotional/neurotic disorders (n = 31, 48.4%) and neurodevelopmental disorders (n = 15, 23.4%). Clinical implications GPs and CAMHS are left with the responsibility for the continuing care of young people for whom no adult mental health service could be identified. GPs may not be able to offer the skilled ongoing care that these young people need. Equally, the inability to move them decreases the capacity of CAMHS to respond to new referrals and may leave some young people with only minimal support.
Date Issued
2016-06-01
Date Acceptance
2015-07-08
Citation
BJPsych Bulletin, 2016, 40 (3), pp.142-148
ISSN
2056-4708
Publisher
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Start Page
142
End Page
148
Journal / Book Title
BJPsych Bulletin
Volume
40
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. This is an open-access article published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published