Appointments

Your appointment

Our specialist social worker will contact you by phone to arrange your first appointment. This first appointment will involve getting to know more about you and discussing how we may be able to support you.

If you would like to access psychological therapy, we will then arrange for one of our psychologists to contact you

Your psychology appointments can be:

• face-to-face
• by video

Face-to-face appointments take place in the haemostasis and thrombosis centre at St Thomas’ Hospital.

For virtual appointments, we will email you instructions on how to join the video call at your scheduled appointment time. We use Microsoft Teams for video appointments. 

How to get an appointment

You can self-refer by calling the national telephone line on 0300 131 0444.

Trained call handlers will answer your call, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

You can also self-refer by completing the Infected Blood Psychological Service referral form. If you know which hospital you would like to go to, please add this on your form.

If you want to be seen at Guy's and St Thomas', you can refer yourself directly by calling 020 3148 7658 and leaving a message.

Changing or cancelling your appointment

Phone: 020 3148 7658

Email: [email protected]

Please tell us 24 hours' before your appointment if you need to cancel or change your appointment.

If you do not attend an appointment, we will attempt to contact you by phone, letter or email. If we do not hear from you within 6 weeks, we will discharge you. You can self-refer again to the service by contacting the national phone line or us directly.

Before your appointment

When you register with us we will give you a privacy notice. Please review this and ask any questions about it when you meet with our team.

To learn more about registering with the IBPS and how your care and records will be managed, please visit the England IBPS website.

During your appointment

Your first appointment with a specialist social worker may last up to 90 minutes.

They will discuss different areas of your life and consider which areas they may be able to support you with.

This may include a range of practical and emotional support, such as:

• managing day-to-day challenges
• accessing services
• navigating systems
• thinking about future plans

Your appointments with our psychologists will last 50 minutes.

These appointments can help you to understand your experiences and explore how they have affected you. They can help you to consider what is important to you and what could help you to be closer to the life you wish to live.

We may discuss topics such as:

• mood, worry, stress, and anger
• bereavement, grief, and loss
• adjustment to changes, health and impact of treatments
• painful or difficult memories

Confidentiality

The discussions that you have with us are confidential, with some exceptions.

Your notes with our team will be stored electronically and securely on a system only used by IBPS professionals in England. We do not share your information with other professionals unless you wish for us to do so and have given your consent.

We can share confidential information without your consent if we need to protect you or someone else from harm. Where possible we would talk to you about this.

We will share information if the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) contact us. We do not need your consent to share information with IBCA because of their lawful duty.  If you would prefer IBCA not to contact us, please discuss this with your claim manager.

We are happy to discuss any concerns you have about this in your appointments.

After your appointment

At your appointment we'll discuss the plan for what happens next and your preferences.