DGT celebrates National Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Day

Together with the NHS Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance, we celebrated National Cancer Clinical Nurse (CNS) Day on 26 and 27 April.

There are more than 74,000 people in Kent and Medway living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis and more than 200 CNS working in our NHS trusts supporting people through diagnosis and treatment.

In light of this, CNSs across the region were invited to the NHS Cancer Alliance’s celebration event to recognise their achievements and contributions. They received ‘thank you’ goodie bags, refreshments and acupuncture treatments as an appreciation for all their dedication and hard work.

Awards were also presented at the event and we are thrilled to announce that DGT’s Lead Colorectal CNS, Louise Rafferty and Non Specific Symptom CNS, Carrie Barton, both received awards for going above and beyond in their work – congratulations!

We are also proud that our very own Macmillan Metastatic Uro-Oncology CNS, Nicola Lancaster was recognised by Macmillan on National Cancer CNS Day. Nicola gave Macmillan an exclusive insight into what she loves about her role:

“Knowing that I have made a difference to someone even when I have given them the bad news. If you deliver it in the right way, it is often easier for them to come to terms with and they often say, ‘I feel better now that I know what’s going on and that there are treatments available’.

“Part of the role is providing patients with knowledge so they can make the right decisions for themselves. This job also gives me the privilege of getting to know my patients really well as they often are being cared for at the hospital and come back to the hospital regularly over a long period of time.

“All of my patients are living with a terminal diagnosis and are on life-long treatment so I can be caring for them for a number of months or years. We always try to remain realistic but hopeful and they appreciate this.

“A defining moment for me was when I got the job as a Macmillan Metastatic CNS. I had been studying for a cancer degree alongside working as a cancer nurse in the Urology team and this role allows me to put all of that experience and knowledge into practice. I now have the opportunity to act more independently, prescribe medication and make changes to patients’ treatment as necessary meaning that I can address their concerns and treat them quickly. It helps me to improve the patient care they receive in general which is really satisfying. I also get to work with teams in the community and as well as different teams within the hospital including allied health care professionals, urologists and oncologists to coordinate the right care for my patients.

“I have also been able to set up a bone health assessment programme to assess, monitor and maintain healthy bones for patients on treatment that can affect bone strength.

“This is a great job! There are lots of opportunities to develop your knowledge and use it to improve patients’ cancer journey. Every day is different. Even if we cannot cure patients, we are giving them the best quality of life possible for as long as that may be. The support network is excellent too. We all support each other in the team which is important when you are dealing with people with life-limiting conditions. The treatments are changing all the time so you are learning all the time so we can make a positive difference to patients in lots of different ways.”

Thank you to all of our Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists for the unwavering care they continue to provide for our patients. You truly are remarkable and deserve to be celebrated.