Your first appointment

You can ask to receive an appointment letter once your assessment appointment has been confirmed. If your appointment is by video, you will receive a text message with a link to join the video call - this should arrive by the morning of the day of your appointment.

A few days before your first appointment you will receive a text message from the hospital asking you to complete some short questionnaires. These will not take long, and will ask you about how you are doing and any worries. It is helpful to do these before meeting with us, but do not worry if you forget or are too busy. We can remind you during your appointment.

Appointments in person at Clinic 7 (see maps below)

A receptionist will ask you will take a seat in the waiting area on arrival. At your appointment time, your psychologist will come and collect you. There is an accessible toilet in the waiting area.

Video

If you decide you would like to have a video appointment, you will be sent a link to your mobile phone before the appointment which you will need to click on at the appointment time. There can be niggly issues with connection at the first appointment, but we can hopefully solve these.  If we have any connection issues via video, we will telephone you instead after a few minutes.

Telephone

You will receive a call at your appointment time. If the clinician cannot make contact, they may leave a voice-message to let you know about how to rearrange if you would like to.

In your appointment

In your appointment, your psychologist will try to get to know your situation and may want to ask you about the different ways that cancer has been affecting your wellbeing. This is called an assessment. After the assessment, the psychologist may suggest what level of support might be helpful, and this will depend on you as an individual. This may take around one hour (although it can be shorter). You can take comfort breaks if you need to. You can bring a family member or friend with you, and they can join you in the appointment if you want.

The things you talk about will be confidential. This means that what you say won’t be shared afterwards, as long as it does not impact your (or somebody else’s) safety. Your psychologist can answer any questions you have about this when you meet.  

We don’t ask everyone the same questions, and your conversation will be tailored to your situation. But some example questions you might be asked at your first appointment, include: 

“What’s making life hard at the moment?” 

“Could you tell me about what has changed?” 

“What, if anything, have you tried so far to manage?” 

“Who do you have around you?” 

“Do you know what you would you like to be different?” 

“How do you see yourself?”