title: Transition from child and adolescent to adult mental health services in the Republic of Ireland: an investigation of process and operational practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ensuring a seamless transition from child to adult mental health services poses challenges for services worldwide. This is an important process in the ongoing care of young people with mental illness; therefore, it is incumbent on all countries to probe their individual structures to assess the quality of mental health service delivery to this vulnerable cohort. To date, there have been no published studies on the transition from Child to Adult Mental Health Services in the Republic of Ireland. To this end, a nationwide survey of transition policies of community mental health teams in both services was conducted in order to compare best practice guidelines for transition with current process and experience in clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Structured interviews were conducted with 57 consultant psychiatrists (representing 32 CAMHS teams and 25 AMHS teams) to obtain information on annual transition numbers, existing transition policies and operational practice from the professional perspective.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Numbers of young people considered suitable for transfer to adult services (M = 7.73, SD = 9.86, n = 25) were slightly higher than numbers who actually transferred (M = 4.50, SD = 3.33, n = 20). There is a lack of standardized practice nationwide regarding the service transition boundary, an absence of written transition policies and protocols, and minimal formal interaction between child and adult services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that there are critical gaps between current operational practice and best practice guidelines. Future studies will investigate the impact this has on the transition experiences of young people, their carers and health-care professionals.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Niamh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: McNicholas
authors.forename: Tamsin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Moli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Blanaid
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gavin
authors.forename: Imelda
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Coyne
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramperti
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dooley
authors.forename: Siobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.forename: Swaran P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care
keywords: adolescence; good practice; mental health services; service development; transition to adult care