Changing to an adult clinic

As your child gets older, the diabetes care team will be trying to encourage him/her to take on some more responsibility for doing his/her own injections and blood tests and keeping a record of his/her test results.

In this way, your child will start to understand how food, exercise and insulin affects their diabetes, and how to make adjustments to ‘keep in control.’

When your child reaches the mid teenage years (generally 16 or over) she/he will probably come under the care of a new diabetes care team, specialising in adults with diabetes. Exactly when this happens depends on the individual child and the facilities available in your area.

Your child will have got used to their children’s team and perhaps made friends with other children attending, but the children’s team and the adult team should work together to make sure the transfer is as smooth as possible.