During your teenage years you’ll stop visiting a children’s doctor and instead start seeing a doctor for adults. When you change doctors, it’s called transition. Most young people are transferred to see an adult’s doctor between the ages of 14 and 16.

When you go through transition, the biggest change is that you’ll have more responsibility for making decisions about your treatment for epilepsy. The doctor will also talk to you about more adult issues, such as contraception, driving, further education and employment.

You might be asked to go to a transitional clinic, where you’ll have a meeting with both your old and new doctor. This will give you the chance to get to know your new doctor. It should help you feel more comfortable talking to them about your epilepsy.

Don’t worry if you don’t go to a transitional clinic – not all hospitals have them. Instead, your doctors might write a care plan for you. This is like a check list. It makes sure that your old doctor gives all the right information about you and your epilepsy to your new doctor.