Specialist palliative care psychology service - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The specialist palliative care psychology service supports adults who are experiencing distress relating to palliative diagnosis or treatment.

We work with patients (and their families and carers) who are under the care of a specialist palliative care team.

This includes our two hospital teams at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital, our two local hospice teams at Marie Curie and St Oswald’s and our community team.

Coping with palliative illness

When someone has a life limiting illness there are lots of things they have to cope with, including:

The diagnosis itself which can lead us to consider our mortality and the impact this could have on loved ones.
Difficult treatments such as chemotherapy which can lead to changes in the body.
Symptoms such as pain and fatigue which can negatively impact quality of life.

These factors might be difficult and upsetting and can lead to significant distress.

Our services

Clinical psychologists are trained to help people cope with distress. We offer careful assessment of an individual’s needs and a range of psychological treatments and interventions.

We also help and advise other healthcare professionals in relation to the psychological care they provide to patients.

This means that although you may not meet with a clinical psychologist, you could still benefit from our presence within the team.

Problems we can help with

We can help patients with a range of problems, including:

Making decisions about treatment
Coping with the side-effects of treatment or illness
Managing the impact of illness on personal relationships and intimacy
Feeling worried, depressed, or angry as a result of the illness and its treatment
Increased uncertainty and worry about the future
Feeling less confident or unhappy about the way you look
Difficulties adjusting to significant changes and losses
Managing emotional exhaustion.

Where do we see people?

We see people in a range of different places, including:

In hospital
At Marie Curie or St Oswald’s hospice
At outpatient clinics across the city
In your own home.

Our team

Clinical Psychologists

A number of clinical psychologists provide assessment and treatment to patients and their families and carers. We also provide training, supervision and consultation to other members of the specialist palliative care team.

Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Provides low intensity psychological treatment interventions to support patients (their families and carers) who may be experiencing mild to moderate common mental health problems on a one to one or group basis.