Changing Faces works with professionals in the NHS, private healthcare and social services to support them in delivering adequate psycho-social care to patients with disfigurements. The right psycho-social support at the right time not only reduces the distress experienced by patients; it also significantly reduces the risk of developing psychological problems later in life. People with disfigurements, like people with other disabilities, are much more likely to develop psychological problems than people without disfigurements. This must be addressed by having high quality services in place that meet their psycho-social needs, so health inequalities are reduced.

Our campaign "It's not just about surgery" focuses on better and more information for patients; increasing awareness amongst health and social care professionals; improving access to psycho-social therapies and improving the quality of psycho-social therapies.

Needs assessments

Our advisers can help you assess the psycho-social needs of your patients, to improve existing services or develop new services. Every health and social care setting is different; services are provided differently in different parts of the country and may be commissioned differently. To adequately assess the needs of your patients you may need tailored advice from our policy and training adviser, who have the experience and expertise to help you improve practice.

At Changing Faces, we use a variety of psychological assessment tools and are able to advise professionals on which tools are most adequate depending on the medical circumstances.

In addition, we offer advice on how to build a business case for improving care as well as providing advice on how to improve services. Our input depends on the exact circumstances of your healthcare setting; every setting is different and the provision of psychological care depends on the specific care pathways. We also offer resources, including evidence to help you design or improve services. Resources are downloadable from our website or can be sent to you by post.

For more information on our consultancy and policy services please contact Ivon van Heugten, Policy Adviser in Health or call her on 0845 4500 275.