Transitions of care are often traumatic for patients and must be improved

Healthcare services, patients, and families can work better together to improve care transitions, writes Helen Cowan My husband lives with a spinal cord injury. Hospital admission can be traumatic when I’m excluded despite being his carer.1 I’m privy to information about his care that can’t be gleaned in a single handover with clinicians. I’ve felt unwelcome during the admission process, and healthcare staff haven’t treated me as an expert partner in care. Transitions involve patients and families moving between different clinical contexts—but too often their experiences and expertise are lost or undermined in the process. Problems with admissions and transition are seen across care settings and patient groups. Al Aynsley-Green, the first national clinical director for children in government, has expressed his concerns about patients receiving chaotic care and scant communication, which is often inappropriate for their age group or condition. He tells of a young woman with a complex health condition being cared for in a cramped overflow hospital bay alongside older people with dementia and then in a single room on a male ward. Her mother felt compelled to stay at the bedside.2 Follow-up is also a …