Psychology - Scottish National Advanced Heart Failure Service
Living with a heart failure can be challenging and disruptive to many aspects of your life and wellbeing.
You may experience various types of emotional distress or behavioural disturbance. Problems such as depression and anxiety are especially common. These conditions not only affect your emotional state but can also affect your symptoms of heart failure.
Fortunately, there are effective treatments for depression and anxiety available, including psychological interventions.
All patients who are being considered for transplant are given the opportunity to discuss the impact the transplant process has upon their life and wellbeing.
Both candidates and transplant recipients, have ready access to psychological support which can be crucial in helping people adjust to their circumstances and maintain their emotional wellbeing.
Referrals
If you think you would benefit from this service please speak to any member of the SNAHFS team to arrange referral.
Patient Learning Café
Good peer support has been demonstrated to enhance outcomes following transplant and the team here at the NHS Golden Jubilee are looking at ways of facilitating this more deliberately.
The ‘Patient Learning Café’ allows heart transplant patients to both provide and gain support from other heart transplant recipients. It is hoped that participating in the Learning Café can be of great benefit to you. Sharing your concerns, fears, struggles, experiences and triumphs with fellow patients can be comforting, as well as give you encouragement and confidence. People with similar conditions can provide a feeling of security and reassurance and assure you that you are "not alone".
Who is the Patient Learning Café for?
The Patient Learning Café is being designed for people who have received a heart transplant. It is available to people who received a transplant many years ago as well as some who have only recently been through transplantation.
What does the Patient Learning Café involve?
People attending the Learning Café choose relevant topics to discuss and share their experiences of the transplant journey. A facilitator helps the group arrive at an agenda and summarise some the emerging themes.
What will I have to do in the Patient Learning Café?
It is hoped that the people attending the Learning Café will benefit from sharing their own experiences of transplantation and learning from others. You will not be obliged to discuss any issues and your participation is completely voluntary. You will be free to leave the group at any time without having to offer an explanation.
How do I join the Patient Learning Café?
If you are interested in participating in a Patient Learning Café, please speak to any member of the SNAHFS team.