Lymphoma Clinical Nurse Specialist Manchester, England
Job description
This is a 12 month fixed term post to cover maternity leave, working 30 hours per week. This post would be suitable for someone with clinical nurse specialist (CNS) experience and expertise in the management of lymphoma.
This post is an opportunity to join The Christie Lymphoma Group in a specialist nursing role as an integral member of the lymphoma multi-disciplinary team. This postholder will work alongside the current lymphoma clinical nurse specialists, within the busy and dynamic lymphoma team.
The successful candidate will provide specialist nursing care for all patients with lymphoma across both medical and clinical oncology services. Working alongside the other members of The Christie Lymphoma Group, high quality advanced nursing care will be provided both in the Trust outpatient and inpatient settings. The post holder will play a key role in the co-ordination of care to patients throughout their cancer journey, ensuring continuity of care and positively influencing patient pathways. The post holder will use their professional and clinical expertise to act as a resource to patients, carers, multi-disciplinary colleagues and primary healthcare teams. Service development and quality improvement through nurse led services, clinical audit, research, education and leadership are integral elements of this specialist nursing role.
The post holder will be managed by the Lymphoma Nurse Clinician.
The candidate will work collaboratively with the other lymphoma CNSs, lymphoma nurse clinician and clinical research nurses to provide expert cancer nursing care. They will be a key worker for patients throughout the patient’s care pathway. Holistic assessment, provision of information and co-ordination of patient care from the point of initial referral, on treatment, in follow up, at relapse or towards end of life care are key aspects of the role. The post holder will work collaboratively and liaise effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary health care team to achieve seamless specialist lymphoma patient service provision. Although not an essential requirement of the role, the post holder will perform bone marrow biopsy clinical procedures in an established nurse led clinic. The post holder would also be responsible for supporting other nurse led clinics or projects including pre-transplant chemotherapy clinic, end of treatment nurse led clinic and ePROMs. There will also be opportunities to lead or participate in quality improvement and clinical audit projects, as part of advancing the care of this patient group. The postholder will provide education and training opportunities to other healthcare professionals, within and outside of the Trust.
The Christie is one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country. We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.
The post demands excellent oral and written communication skills and good interpersonal skills are paramount, together with the confidence to engage and work with a range of colleagues at all levels and from all professional groups.
The post holder will provide education and training opportunities to other healthcare professionals, within and outside of the Trust.
- To work collaboratively with the other lymphoma CNS, Lymphoma Nurse Clinicians and Clinical Research Team to provide expert cancer care
- To provide an expert advisory and support service for patients, carers and other professionals as a Key Worker for patients throughout their care pathway including beyond treatment
- To undertake Holistic Needs Assessments (HNA) with patients at designated time-points in the patient’s pathway
- To work as a core member of The Christie Lymphoma Group with specific responsibility for the integration of care provision
- To work collaboratively and liaise effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary health care team to achieve seamless specialist lymphoma patient service provision
- To provide clinical leadership and expertise in a lymphoma nursing and act as a resource to patients and staff
- To perform bone marrow biopsy clinical procedures in nurse led clinic. Achieve and maintain Trust competency with relevant Patient Group Directions (PGDs) for supportive medication required for this procedure
- To develop other nurse led services to meet the needs of the lymphoma patient service, Christie Lymphoma Group, wider Trust organisation as well as the current and future challenges of the NHS
- To contribute to the formulation and review of relevant policies and patient information material both within and outside of the Trust
- To undertake clinical and organisational audit, promoting the importance and value of undertaking such initiatives through multi professional collaboration
- To adhere to Trust organisational strategy, care quality indicators and Greater Manchester Cancer pathway standards of care relevant to lymphoma patient care
- To be aware of relevant hospital policies and procedures and collaborate with other health care professionals to ensure that these are observed
- To help foster a supportive working environment and maintain staff morale
- To work with named charitable organisations on specific projects, providing CNS input (information and support to patients)
Clinical Responsibility – Patient care
1. To act as Key Worker for patients with lymphoma referred to the lymphoma team from the point of referral and throughout their cancer journey. Undertake HNA to assess individual need, implement plan of care, evaluate effectiveness and refer to appropriate services in the acute and community settings. To provide patient with tailored information about their disease, treatment and management in a format appropriate to the needs of the individual patient.
1. To attend Trust medical oncology and clinical oncology lymphoma clinics and provide expert advice and support to patients, carers and colleagues. To effectively communicate with team members to facilitate effective patient care pathway particularly with regard to integrating chemotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell transplantation/ CAR-T services.
1. To attend the weekly lymphoma inpatient ward rounds and lymphoma MDT meetings and contribute to discussions about individual patients care. To attend other relevant meetings as appropriate.
1. To co-ordinate the pathway for patients requiring inpatient chemotherapy, stem cell harvesting and transplantation. Liaise with Patient Flow and/or Hotline services regarding unplanned/emergency admissions. To be aware of all lymphoma inpatient admissions, within this Trust or elsewhere, and liaise with nursing and junior medical staff involved in their care.
1. To undertake bone marrow biopsy clinical procedures in nurse led clinic, having achieved Trust competency to use relevant Patient Group Directions (PGDs) for supportive medication required for this procedure.
1. To establish and run other nurse led services to meet the needs of lymphoma patient group, lymphoma team and the wider Trust organisation.
1. To inform patients about the impact of treatment on fertility, providing advice about contraception and, where appropriate, making referrals to the Regional Fertility Centre at St. Mary’s Hospital.
1. To act as a patient advocate whenever appropriate, with respect for patient confidentiality, privacy and diverse cultural backgrounds and requirements.
1. Act as a point of contact for patients and their carers in the community.
1. Ensures accurate, concise and timely documentation of all clinical contact in patient records.
1. To be fully conversant with The Christie Lymphoma Group evidence-based policies and practices and those of the Trust relevant to lymphoma patient care.
1. To be aware of current lymphoma clinical trial portfolio. To collaborate and liaise with lymphoma research nurses and research clinicians, to provide support for patients prior to, during and following clinical trials to ensure safety of patients and continuity of care.
1. To undertake non - medical prescribing within own scope of competence with adherence to relevant Trust policies and current NMC guidance.
1. To act always in accordance with the NMC Code and guiding documents.
Education and Development responsibility – development of self and others
1. To educate patients, families and carers at an appropriate level about lymphoma management, including treatment side effects, to enable self-care wherever possible.
1. To provide support, education and training to other healthcare professionals, within and outside of the Trust, to develop their skills to deliver appropriate specialist care to patients with lymphoma.
1. To present audit or service development projects to a local, national/international audience. Represent The Christie Lymphoma Group and the Trust at formal education forums/conferences.
1. To accept personal responsibilities for own development and professional growth.
1. To assess own educational needs and keep up to date with nursing and clinical updates in line with NMC Code. Maintain professional portfolio and meet the requirements of NMC revalidation.
1. To formulate a personal development plan and undergo regular appraisals with line manager. To undertake identified training to provide the necessary skills in specialist nursing care of lymphoma patients.
1. To use current research evidence to develop protocols and nurse led services for lymphoma patient group.
1. Initiate and support clinical developments/projects to promote excellence in patient care, including when possible undertake nursing research and publish outcome.
1. Provide and receive clinical supervision and mentorship to facilitate reflective practice.
1. Promote patient and public involvement activities, leading to service improvement. Engage with lymphoma patient organisations such as Lymphoma Action to share expertise.
Management and Leadership responsibility – including human resources, financial and other resources
1. To act as a leader and role model and demonstrate expert knowledge and high standards of clinical practice to other healthcare professionals both within and outside of Trust.
1. To take full responsibility for own workload and manage own caseload efficiently, effectively and with flexibility to meet the demands of the lymphoma patient service. To identify and maintain supportive networks for self and other colleagues.
1. To be fully aware of national cancer targets set out in the NHS Cancer Reform Strategy and NICE improving Outcomes Guidance for Haematological Cancers as well as Trust strategic and directorate objectives. In conjunction with multi-disciplinary team use the available resources to meet these targets.
1. To develop collaborative working with primary care and local cancer units to enhance partnership working. Take an active role in local, network and national specialist nursing groups.
Clinical Governance/Quality/Audit
1. To facilitate a high quality specialist service through clinical research/audit/quality improvement projects, monitoring of standards against guidelines and through other quality initiatives agreed by The Christie Lymphoma Group.
1. To use information systems such as Clinical Web Portal (CWP) to aid regular audit of the clinical role and provide activity analysis as required
1. To contribute to the national, regional and local governance and quality review processes as a core member of The Christie Lymphoma Group.
1. To keep up to date with Trust mandatory training requirements for this role.
The Christie lymphoma team is a busy and dynamic team with an international reputation for advancing care, and improving outcomes for patients with lymphoma. The lymphoma team manages an extensive caseload of patients offering an extensive range of treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted and immunotherapy. The lymphoma team has a large portfolio of clinical trials. The team is one of the most specialist teams in the country and offer treatments to patients from across and beyond Greater Manchester. The team have an regular programme of internal educational opportunities and provide opportunities to support individual team members to access Trust wide and external educational and professional development events.
This job description is an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and is not intended as an exhaustive list. The job may change over time to reflect the changing needs of the Trust and its services, as well as the personal development needs of the post holder.
