Contents

• Home
• About the Trust
• NHS Foundation Trust
• Equality and Diversity
• Information for Patients
  • Wards & Visiting Hours
  • Infection Control
  • End Waiting Change Lives
  • Patient & Public Involvement
  • Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS)
  • E-Cards
  • Access to Medical Records
  • NHS Number
  • Complaints
  • Compliments
  • Advice and Support
    • Bereavement Service
    • Chaplaincy
    • Interpretation Services
    • Hamar Centre
    • Home from Hospital
    • Overseas Visitors
  • Accommodation
  • Private Patients
  • Useful Links
  • Information for Visitors
• Information for Staff
• Recruitment
• Fundraising and Volunteers
• Wards (visiting hours) and Services
• Getting to Hospital
• News and Media
• Undergraduate Students
• Cancer Zone

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• Time To Make A Difference?
• GPConnect

Latest News

• Consultation on new Patient Rights in England
• Recruitment Campaign Hailed a Success
• Tell us your views on our Annual Report and Annual Review
• Fundraisers help provide new equipment with £50,000 donation
• Congratulations to the 21Kay Appeal Fundraisers
• The search is on for a new Trust Chairman
• Fundraisers hand over £1,300 to the Princess Royal Hospital
• Trust recevies best ever results in the Annual Health Check
• Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to be launched in Shropshire
• Swine Flu and Seasonal Flu: Current Position (3 November 2009)
• Service Update - Roadworks at RSH (Updated 19 November 2009)

Contact

Hamar Help and Support Centre

Information, support and counselling

The Hamar Centre is located at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. The service is for people with cancer and other long term and serious illnesses, their relatives and carers living in Shropshire and Mid-Wales. People can telephone or 'drop-in' to the Centre for information or to make appointments for taking up further support. Ward visits may be possible but this should be discussed with ward staff first, as other hospital services may be more appropriate at this stage. Counselling is also provided at the Princess Royal Hospital at Telford.  

Information

We have a range of booklets, leaflets and files of information. This may be useful for helping people understand more about  cancer and different treatments and about some other illnesses, other services available and people who can help, how to access and make best use of them, holiday insurance advice and so on.  A computer is also available to access information from the internet . Contact the Hamar Centre reception for guidance in the first instance or for arranging advice and discussion with a counsellor and specialist nurse.  Information builds on that already provided by multi-disciplinary health care teams.

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Support and counselling

Life with serious illness - whether at diagnosis, during treatments or in the time that follows - can present many challenges. We offer a range of options for emotional and psychological help in our programme of supportive and psychological therapies. This can vary, from short term support to tide people over a crisis and to encourage them to help themselves, to longer term support - working towards rehabilitation and well-being for those people in greater need.

Feeling emotionally upset is a natural and understandable reaction to serious illness, as is questioning the meaning amd purpose of life. The impact of illness can affect us on many levels and sometimes it can be very helpful to talk this over with someone outside your situation who is professionally trained and can begin to help you find new perspectives. Typical issues may include anxious and difficult feelings, low mood and morale, coping with medical treatments and their after effects, tension in relationships with family and friends and philosophical questions.  

Counselling and supportive therapies can be helpful in different ways. To take up support at the Hamar Centre you will need to book an appointment with the Team Leader or a counsellor to consider your situation and the best options for your particular needs.

Support includes;

• Individual counselling with trained counsellors who can offer a range of different expertise and approaches to helping
• Working in a group:
  • Relaxation and self-care/life skills
  • Art and creativity
    
• Individual supportive therapies: 
  • Aromatherapy
  • Touch Therapy /Reiki

Informal support

Many people find it helpful to meet others with similar illnesses. Some support groups meet at the Centre or we can give you details of others in the area. We have a monthly social morning that usually meets at the Centre, on the first Tuesday in the month. Ask at the Centre reception for details of the programme of activities.

Alternatively, many people find the atmosphere in the Hamar Centre is calm and relaxing. This can be especially so in times of crisis such as  when making frequent visits to the hospital for treatments, tests or for visiting relatives. If you feel you need a 'quiet place'  to unwind, please feel welcome to call in and perhaps have a cup of tea.

The Hamar Centre garden and summerhouse is particularly tranquil and during the warmer months can be a wonderful refuge for our clients and visitors. We also welcome hospital patients and their visitors, if well enough to leave the ward for a period and the staff know where you are going! The summerhouse is there to enjoy for all. Please ask at the Centre reception for the key, when it is locked.