Macmillan Cancer Psychological Support (CaPS) Team

What is the Macmillan Cancer Psychological Support team (CaPS)?

Diagnosis and treatment of cancer can have a big impact on the quality of life of the person, their family and carers.

The CaPS team is here to help you cope with and adjust to the emotional and psychological challenges which can come with cancer. We offer a safe space to discuss your concerns. Patients and carers can access a range of talking therapies with a psychological therapist or clinical psychologist.

We can also support you if you’re managing cancer alongside existing mental health difficulties. Our consultant liaison psychiatrist can provide specialist guidance for more complex mental health needs, working closely with your cancer care team, to ensure you receive fully joined-up support.

The sorts of difficulties we can help you with include:

• Coping with adjustment, change and loss
• Living with uncertainty, including fear of recurrence
• Coping with how cancer affects relationships and sex
• Feelings of ‘stuckness’, finding it hard to move forward
• Feelings of depression, anxiety, trauma and anger
• Coping with pain, fatigue and treatment side-effects
• Feeling unhappy about changes in the way you look
• Coping with impact on self-esteem, confidence and identity
• Coming to terms with possible end-of-life issues
• Supporting you in thinking about how to talk to children about cancer
• Coping with the challenges of caring for someone with cancer

How do I access the service?

Any healthcare professional in your clinical team can make a referral for you by completing a referral form. Please request this if you think our service could help. If you have any questions about what we offer, or if a referral is appropriate, you can also contact us directly.

If you are an inpatient with urgent needs, your clinical team can refer to CaPS where appropriate or the psychiatric liaison team.

We can see you with your partner or family member(s) if helpful and can also provide individual support to family members on their own.

The service is free, and we can offer adaptations to make sure you are able to use it, such as arranging an interpreter.

We offer face to face appointments but can also see people via video or telephone if you are unable to physically attend the hospital.

The service is confidential – we won’t share details of our sessions, unless you or others are at risk, although we will let your team and your GP know you are accessing our service, and share with them some relevant information. You can talk to us about this if you have any questions or concerns.

What happens if I am referred?

If you are referred to us, we will contact you to discuss the referral and potentially to arrange an initial outpatient assessment. If you are an inpatient, we can come and see you on the ward. At the assessment we will explore your concerns and priorities, and decide with you the best way we can help. Sometimes we may suggest other services in your area that may be more appropriate for your needs, such as other cancer support services or talking therapies, and would discuss this with you.

Information for healthcare professionals

If you have a query about a potential referral, please contact the team.

Referrals should be sent to:

cancer.psychologicalsupport@stgeorges.nhs.uk

or can be posted using the information on the form.