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Tom’s Trust expands reach to the Thames Valley region with new service

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Tom’s Trust has opened a new clinical psychology service at the Children’s Hospital in Oxford, that will provide much-needed mental health support to children and young people facing a brain tumour diagnosis across the Thames Valley region, along with also supporting their families.

Dr Jeni Tregay, Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologist and Lead Psychologist in Paediatric Neuro-oncology, Dr Emily Townsend, Tom’s Trust Clinical Psychologist;

Where Tom’s Trust works

Tom’s Trust clinical psychologists support hundreds of children, and thousands of families, within hospitals in the East, North-East, North-West, and now Thames Valley; helping them from diagnosis, through treatment and as they return to life at home. The clinical psychology team will also be there to support a family if their child is dying or has sadly died from this devastating disease.

Oxford Children’s Hospital

The paediatric neuro-oncology service at the Children’s Hospital in Oxford is the Principal Treatment Centre (PTC) for the Thames Valley region – reaching Swindon, Milton Keynes, Slough, Wycombe, Reading, and areas of Northamptonshire. In this region, there are approximately 30-40 children and young people diagnosed with brain tumours per year. Children are often followed up by the service for up to 10-years post treatment.

An additional 300 appointments

The new Tom’s Trust clinical psychology service at the Children’s Hospital in Oxford will exclusively support the needs of children with brain tumours, and their families, recognising the complex psychological needs of this unique group of children and their families. The Tom’s Trust service will triple the team’s current capacity for direct clinical work, and they expect to be able to offer an additional 300 appointments to children with brain tumours and their families each year.

 

L-R Dr Emily Townsend, Tom’s Trust Clinical Psychologist; Dr Jeni Tregay, Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologist and Lead for Psychology in Paediatric Neuro-oncology; Mel Hayes, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Paediatric Neuro-oncology; Helen Blundell, Lead Nurse for Paediatric Haematology and Oncology; Dr Shaun Wilson, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist and Lead for Paediatric Neuro-oncology; Mr Tim Lawrence, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon.

Dr Jeni Tregay, Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologist at Oxford University Hospitals, said:

“Our current service sees many of the children and young people in our region diagnosed with a brain tumour but, like many similar services, we have no dedicated funding for neuro-oncology meaning that we are often unable to provide the depth of psychological support and intervention that we would like or the timely re-assessment and follow-up that these children need. From speaking with our families, we know that there is a high level of unmet need that extends beyond active treatment, and we are very grateful to have been selected as one of the UK Principal Treatment Centres (PTC) to benefit from a fully funded Tom’s Trust clinical psychologist post so that we can begin to change this.

“With the new Tom’s Trust service, we will be able to increase both the depth and breadth of psychological care that patients and their families receive. The new service will provide greater capacity for psychological intervention at an individual, family, and group level that we hope will help families to feel better supported through treatment and afterward. We also aim to offer proactive neuropsychological ‘check-ins’ with some more vulnerable families so that we can address concerns sooner and work toward better quality of survival once treatment ends.”

Rebecca Wood, CEO at Tom’s Trust, added:

“We are so proud to be able to help families living with a devastating brain tumour diagnosis and its effects in the Thames Valley region. We know this new service will make a positive impact on the families who so desperately need this vital support. We are fundraising hard to develop and sustain this brilliant new service as well as to allow us to plan our next two services to help families in other parts of the UK.”

 

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