Transition from children’s to adult health services has become an important issue in recent years for several reasons. Children are now surviving into adult life with conditions which previously would have been lethal in early childhood. Many of these are rare and obscure and until recently have been unfamiliar to those working predominantly in adult practice. Often these children and young people require the input of many medical and surgical specialists and general paediatricians play an important role in coordinating care and taking a holistic view of their needs and those of their family-but it is sometimes difficult to identify anyone willing to take on that role after transition to adult services.