Oncology and Palliative Care

Psycho-oncology
Clinical Health Psychology
Hengrave House
Torbay Hospital
Lowes Bridge
Torquay TQ2 7AA

Phone: 01803 654573

The Psycho-oncology service is a specialist psychology team. We support people living with cancer, their families, and the healthcare staff looking after them.

We provide emotional and psychological support at any stage of your care. This includes when you are diagnosed, during your treatment, after treatment finishes, or during palliative care. We also help cancer care staff develop skills to support their patients’ emotional needs.

Other emotional support in cancer services

There are many different types of support available, depending on what you need.

  • Your cancer care team: Members of your direct care team are always here to listen to your concerns. Teams like your Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), dietitians, radiographers, speech and language therapists, or the chaplaincy team can give you basic tools to manage mild anxiety or low mood.
  • The Lodge Cancer Support and Information Centre: The Lodge offers dedicated listening and support sessions. They can also connect you to other helpful resources, including Macmillan guides, complementary therapies, financial advisors, and wig clinics.

How the Psycho-oncology service can help

If emotional distress is affecting your quality of life and you need specialist psychological therapy, our service can help.

Typical difficulties we can support you with include:

  • Anxiety, depression, low mood, or trauma related to cancer
  • Concerns about your body image
  • Preparing for surgery, medical procedures, or staying in hospital
  • Phobias of needles or hospitals
  • Making difficult decisions about your treatment or surgery
  • Dealing with difficult side effects, such as pain or nausea

What we do

Working directly with you

  • Psychological assessments: A meeting to talk about your current needs and see if therapy would be useful for you.
  • Pre-surgical assessments: Sessions to help you explore and make decisions about upcoming surgery.
  • Individual psychological therapies: One-to-one therapy tailored to help you manage cancer-related distress.
  • Moving on Groups (MOG): The Breast Care MOG is run by a psychological practitioner and a CNS. It is available for breast cancer patients who have finished their main treatment.

Working behind the scenes

We offer clinical advice, reflective practice groups, and training to help our NHS colleagues build their own psychological support skills. This includes the nationally recommended Psychological Skills Level 2 training.

How to access this service

If you would like to see us, please speak to your CNS, Consultant, support worker or GP. You can also ask the staff at The Lodge Cancer Support and Information Centre. They can all send a referral to our team. We review all new referrals at our weekly team meeting.

We can accept your referral if:

  • You have a confirmed cancer diagnosis, and your care is managed by a local cancer Consultant or key worker.
  • Your psychological distress is directly related to your cancer.
  • You have given your consent and want a psychological approach to help with your difficulties.

At your first appointment

We offer video and telephone appointments. If you need to see us in person, we offer appointments at:

  • Brixham Hospital
  • The Breast Care Unit
  • The Lodge Cancer Support and Information Centre, Torbay Hospital

Your first appointment will be an assessment. We will talk about your current difficulties and build a support plan together.

Confidentiality

Our support is completely confidential. We will write assessment and discharge letters to you, your referrer, and your GP so everyone involved in your care stays updated. We will always discuss and agree on this with you first.