ABSTRACT
Due to improved medical treatments, technology and support, an increasing number of young people live with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition, and many know that they will face a premature death during their teenage years or early adulthood. These young people have a wide range of conditions, some congenital or genetic and apparent from a young age, and others developed later in childhood or adolescence. Their journey through adolescence into adulthood is compounded by facing a complex and often bewildering transition from children’s palliative care to adult services, very often at the same time as their condition starts to deteriorate. Young people with palliative care needs should be recognized as a distinct care group as they have physical, psychological and developmental needs that are significantly different from those experienced by children and adults.
