Psychology service for adults living with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia

Our specialist psychology service is part of the haemoglobinopathy department at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Greenwich. We offer psychological support to adults (16 years +) living with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia.

Living with a health condition can affect people’s lives in many different ways. Our psychology service can support you to cope with the challenges of living with sickle cell disease and thalassaemia.

Meeting with a psychologist can help by giving you the chance to talk through your health difficulties and the impact they have on your life and emotional wellbeing. Your psychologist will work with you to find effective ways to manage your health condition and improve your quality of life.

Contact

Phone: 07557 253 313

Email: Lg.sicklethalpsychology@nhs.net

We are available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

How we can help you

Your psychologist can provide support and help you to:

  • „Understand and learn to live better with your health condition
  • Find new ways to manage your pain when you are at home or in hospital
  • Manage your treatment plan, and work with you to identify any barriers to your treatment and help you to overcome them (eg fear of needles, treatment related worries, remembering
    to take medications)
  • Think through and make important decisions about your treatment
  • Communicate your thoughts, feelings and needs with your healthcare team
  • Manage any family, relationship, work and personal problems that are impacting your health and emotional wellbeing
  • Manage any feelings of anxiety, worry, stress and low mood in relation to your health
  • Cope with health-related stigma and how to communicate your condition/needs to others
  • Feel more confident and efficient about managing your health condition
  • Cope with sleep difficulties and fatigue

 

About your psychology appointment

Your first appointment can take place at the hospital or remotely by a video call or phone call. It usually takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour.

At this initial assessment your psychologist will ask you about your current difficulties, your thoughts and feelings about your situation and how you tend to cope. They may ask you some questions about your background and personal history and complete some questionnaires about your mood and health/pain.

Following this assessment your psychologist will discuss with you what further support is available to you.

The options might include:

  • A series of regular psychology sessions focusing on a particular issue or goal
  • Further information and support around your condition and how to manage it
  • A referral to a different psychology service that can meet your individual needs
  • „Signposting you to other local information and support services.

 

How to get a referral

We can see people who have a diagnosis of sickle cell disease or thalassemia who are already in contact with the Haematology service at the Trust.

If you would like psychological support, or to find out more about our service, you can contact us Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Alternatively, you can ask your haematologist or sickle cell nurse to refer you to us.

Confidentiality and privacy

If you choose to ask for psychological support, we will let other members of the haematology team involved in your care know this. We will keep what you discuss in the psychological support appointments as private as possible.

We will only share specific information discussed in psychology sessions if it is relevant to your healthcare. We will seek your consent before doing so.

The brief notes of the sessions held with the psychologist will be kept as part of your electronic health record, but you can ask for specific information to be kept confidential, providing this does not pose any risks to yourself or others, or to the care of your medical condition.

 

Out of hours support

If you need support outside of these hours and it is a crisis situation, please call 999 and/or go to your nearest Emergency Department (A&E) (24hrs). If it is not a life-threatening situation but you need immediate support, please call 111 or contact your GP.

If you need to talk to someone in confidence (eg if you are feeling low) you can also contact the following organisations:

Call the free Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123 or visit the Samaritans website

Text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 to get support from the Shout Crisis Text Line or visit the Shout website

For face to face, online or phone support, visit the listening place website 

Sickle cell patient group

Who can join?

If you are a patient or the parent or guardian of a patient at University Hospital Lewisham or Queen Elizabeth Hospital who has sickle cell disease you are welcome to join this online group.

Aims:

  • Make connections with others who understand living with sickle cell disease
  • Gain support from psychology team members experienced in sickle cell challenges
  • Benefit from occasional visits by healthcare professionals for information and Q&A sessions
  • Share your experiences and learn from the stories of others in the group.

Download the Sickle Cell Patient Support Group Flyer

Frequent topics

  • Accessing welfare and financial support, including PIP to help with extra costs
  • Dealing with education and employment issues
  • Sharing ideas of how to live well with sickle cell
  • Keeping up to date with developments in services and how to access them
  • Working together to shape and improve sickle cell services.

When

First Wednesday of each month, 5.30pm to 6.30pm

How to join

Please complete the form at the link below and we will send you a link to join:

Sign up for the Lewisham and Greenwich Sickle Cell Patient Group