Luton and Dunstable Hospital General Medicine Service

The EPUT team provides psychological support to patients at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital General Medicine Service for adults, who may have difficulties with, or problems adjusting to, serious chronic illness and other physical health conditions.

We provide psychological treatments for patients with physical health problems such as diabetes, arthritis, chronic pain, bowel disease, cardiac problems etc. This includes helping patients adjust to these problems, enhancing their ability to manage them, helping with managing mood difficulties that result from them, providing stress reduction, treatment of specific phobias, pain management techniques and cardiac rehabilitation interventions.

The emphasis is on making recovery a priority and ensuring that not only the illness is addressed but also the behaviours, emotions, thoughts, and interpersonal difficulties that could undermine the success of treatment.

The team consists of:

• Consultant Clinical Psychologists
• Clinical Psychologists
• Assistant Psychologists

We also have Nurse Specialists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists who are seconded to, or work in partnership with, our service.

Treatment provided

Chronic Pain Service We provide assessment for patients with chronic pain and the service provides three pain management groups each year, consisting of eight half-day outpatient sessions.

Cardiology We provide individual Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for mood or adjustment difficulties, managing non-specific chest pain. Individual bibliotherapy programme of eight weekly sessions aimed at coping with heart disease are also provided. We offer psycho-education to groups on coping following a cardiac event.

Diabetes CBT is provided for patients with poor diabetic control, needle phobias, adjustment problems.  We provide a group programme for poor adjusters, following recent diagnosis with type-1 and type-2 diabetes.

Rheumatology We provide assessment clinics for rheumatoid arthritis patients with adjustment problems. In addition to CBT and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy interventions we provide an eight-week bibliotherapy programme for fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and somatisation.

In-patient Assessments We provide a limited number of assessments and short treatments to in-patients on the wards at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.

General Medical Referrals 

Patients at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital can be referred from other departments such as the Department of Medicine for the Elderly, Ear Nose & Throat, Limb-fitting, Neurology, Endocrinology, Stroke Rehabilitation, and Surgery. They are provided with either individual CBT or bibliotherapy.