Committee publication · Engagement document · 1 July 2026
IEP roundtable note: lived experience
From: Health and Social Care Committee
Inquiry: The transition from child to adult health and social care services
Summary
This engagement document summarises findings from the Health and Social Care Committee's Expert Panel lived experience roundtable on 9 June 2026, where young people, parents, and support workers discussed transitions from child to adult health and social care services. Key issues include poor planning and communication, gaps in care, young people's exclusion from decisions, lack of named coordinators, and insufficient support for housing and independence. Participants called for earlier transition planning, named transition workers, and personalised, flexible approaches.
Key findings
- Transitions often poorly planned, rushed, or absent; timing inconsistent across services, creating confusion for young people with complex needs
- Significant gaps between child and adult services leave young people in care 'voids' with unclear escalation routes; GPs lack necessary information to coordinate help
- Young people report feeling excluded from transition decisions; parents/carers bear heavy emotional and practical burden; sudden service endings cause distress
- Workforce lacks named transition coordinators; information-sharing failures force families to repeat medical histories; individual staff commitment does not compensate for systemic failures
- Inadequate support for housing, life skills, and social opportunities; young people 'fall off a cliff' after leaving structured environments; activities often not tailored to individual needs
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Health and Social Care Committee Expert Panel, Breakout Group 1 participants (A-I, including young people with lived experience, parents, support workers), Breakout Group 2 participants (A-G, including young people with lived experience, parents, support staff), GPs, Local authorities, NHS and social services, Youth workers and support networks
Notable line
“Gaps need to be avoided at all costs… when there's gaps, there's deterioration…you're in a void…this can lead to hospital admissions”
Key Quotes
“… the "most stressful few years of my life" …”
“"we didn't even start talking about transition until a few weeks before my 18 th birthday. The whole process was rushed…. I wasn't involved in it".”
“Gaps need to be avoided at all costs… when there's gaps, there's deterioration…you're in a void…this can lead to hospital admissions”
“I left the child service and then there was nothing, because the adult service didn't accept me…I ended up being hospitalised”
“… many of our staff have reported the absolute lack of multi-agency working or transition planning”
“I felt like stuff was being done to me”
“… handling transitions "needs to be someone's job".”
“One thing that was really missing was involvement in the decision about saying goodbye. This consultant literally saved my daughter's life. But it felt extremely cold and we were not prepared in the slightest”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗