7th April 2026 • My Family Our Needs
The Health and Social Care Committee has announced that its Independent Expert Panel (IEP) will investigate pitfalls in the transition from children’s to adults’ services.
The panel will examine the extent to which young people are being let down when transitioning from children’s services to adult health and social care services.
The IEP is led by Professor Dame Jane Dacre and will look into a range of issues. Some of the key issues being investigated will be:
- A lack of forward planning to ensure continuity of care.
- Some services ending at age 16, while adult services may not commence until age 18.
- Poor communications with young people and their families about care pathways.
- Problems being more likely to arise if a young person has multiple complex conditions requiring input from numerous health and social care services.
The IEP may consider how National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines are being applied and whether stakeholders feel they should be reviewed.
The IEP will also reflect on how families are involved in service design, and to what extent services and commissioners are held accountable.
The Government’s ‘10 Year Health Plan’ does not have any dedicated strategies or ambitions in relation to the transition from child to adult health and social care services. In contrast to this, the previous ‘NHS long-term plan’ included a commitment to develop a ‘0-25 years health service’.
According to the Health and Social Care committee, the issue of transitioning from child to adult services is growing in prominence due to improved reporting and an increasing number of children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions surviving into adulthood compared with previous decades.
In other news, Cardiff Council has expanded the Open Schools initiative to further strengthen inclusion and improve support for learners.