Developmentally appropriate healthcare (DAH) recognises the changing biopsychosocial developmental needs of young people and the need to empower young people by embedding health education and health promotion in consultations.
In operational terms DAH focuses on the approach of healthcare providers to engage with each young person and their carers alongside the structure of the organisations in which care takes place.
Toolkit for developmentally appropriate healthcare
The toolkit is designed to support all working in the NHS, from clinicians to chief executives, to promote the health of young people and to play their part in making healthcare work for this age group. It gives practical suggestions about how healthcare can be tailored to young people’s needs as they develop and change through adolescence and into young adulthood.
All young people are entitled to receive appropriate healthcare wherever they access it. The 'You’re Welcome' quality criteria for making health services young people friendly lay out principles that will help health services – community and primary care, secondary care and wider health services – to ‘get it right’ for young people.
Transition
The Transition from children’s to adults’ services for young people using health or social care services guideline covers the period before, during and after a young person moves from children's to adults' services. It aims to help young people and their carers have a better experience of transition by improving the way it’s planned and carried out. It covers both health and social care.
This was a 5-year programme of research examining how health services can contribute most effectively to the successful transition of young people with complex health needs from childhood to adulthood. The outcomes of this programme are available to download.
The Care Quality Commission has produced a report on children’s transition to adult health services.