East of England Infected Blood Psychological Service (IBPS)

Who is this service for?

IBPS is an NHS service specifically for:

• anyone who has been infected by receiving contaminated blood or blood products through the contaminated blood scandal
• family members or people close to the person infected

About the service

We offer assessment, support and treatment to improve the psychological health and wellbeing of anyone who has been infected or affected by the contaminated blood scandal.

This support is provided by clinicians with expertise in the issues facing those who have been infected or affected.

The service is free and offers appointments in person, over the phone or by a video call. In the East of England, face to face appointments take place on the Addenbrooke's Hospital site in Cambridge. If these appointment options don’t work for you, please call us and we will be happy to try and support with this.

The service is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

How to access the service

The self-referral form can be found on our website which you can access via the QR code below or by putting CUH IBPS into your search engine.

Alternatively, you can call us on 03003 036286

What to expect

The East of England IBPS covers Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. It is one of sixteen national centres. People would most often be seen within their local centre, but you also have the option to choose to be seen in a different area if this is your preference.

If you complete the online self-referral form, we will contact you by telephone or email (according to your stated preference) to arrange an initial appointment with an IBPS clinician.

If you choose to contact us by telephone, we will ask for basic personal details (e.g. name, address, telephone number) and plan an initial appointment. If we are not available to answer your call, you may need to leave a message and let us know how best to contact you.

However you choose to contact us, we will aim to offer you an initial appointment within 14 days. The purpose of the initial appointment is to discuss the kind of support you would like. Any ongoing support or treatment plan will be agreed with you and tailored to your individual needs.

In addition to psychological treatment, the service can also help put you in touch with other support such as benefits, housing, employment and financial advice.

Urgent mental health support

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact NHS 111 and select the option for mental health to access urgent help. Or go to your local A&E department. This service is available 24/7.