Nurses are invaluable! That is why we want to celebrate International Nurses Day and say an enormous thank you to all the cancer nurses who continuously strive to provide our patients across Wessex, with the very best possible care and support; at every stage of their cancer journey.

The theme for International Nurses Day 2021 is; Nurses: A voice to lead, a vision for future healthcare. In 2021, we seek to show how nursing will look into the future as well as how the profession will transform the next stage of healthcare (www.icn.ch).

Cancer Nursing is not just one job – there are lots of nurses in our workforce who have roles of all shapes and sizes but they are all a part of this vision to transform healthcare. So, we wanted to share the following stories with you to showcase the many differing cancer nurses who are making us so very proud and with whom we will continue to work as we shape, improve and transform the cancer services for our population.

Meet Jane

I started my nursing career in 1982, without expectation, or aspiration that I would have had such wonderful experiences and met so many incredible human beings throughout the subsequent years. I have worked in surgery and mental health, although mainly in cancer care. More latterly I worked as a clinical nurse specialist in colorectal cancer for 10 years and a consultant nurse in gastrointestinal cancer for 10 years.

I had the opportunity to be the lead cancer nurse at Southampton and have also worked alongside the amazing team of researchers at the Macmillan Survivorship research group for many years, supporting their work to directly impact on patient care. I have been fortunate to be awarded grants which have enabled learning opportunities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand – with many a stop-over in between!!!

Without exception the individuals within those teams I have worked closely with, over the years, have given so much to their work. The professionalism, dedication and true commitment to caring for those individuals and their families, as they would their own families, shines through every part of their work.

I am so proud to be part of a community who relentlessly maintain the highest of standards. Their unfaltering commitment to their work, despite the challenges they face, more so than ever recently, are a testament to the resilience and determination they possess.

I am very proud to now work with Wessex Cancer Alliance, where the culture and values still accord primacy to the needs of those who are living through an experience of cancer. We are a growing team of nurses and allied healthcare professionals who look to transform and develop services which are designed at a system level and experienced on a personal level, wherever that care is needed.

We are constantly developing new ways of integrating and improving care. We look to develop the skills and capabilities for future generations and want to inspire and motivate without losing our identity as nurses.

I value the wisdom and knowledge of my colleagues and their tireless pursuit of excellence. I am a very proud cancer nurse on a day where we can celebrate being part of a global community of nurses.

Meet Steph

I don’t remember when I decided I wanted to be a nurse or what prompted this.

I don’t come from a family of nurses or other health care professionals and don’t recall ever stepping foot inside a hospital until I started my nursing training (but I did have a much-loved uniform and a Fisher Price medical set, which probably inspired my ongoing love of taking manual blood pressure readings and a regret I never got to wear a real nurses cape!)

My overriding memory of my first day as a student nurse was accompanying a lady to have a tilt table test. I am sure I learnt many things that day but what I enjoyed most was talking to her about her life, what has happened to prompt the test and how she felt about it.

That is what I love about nursing; those conversations and human relationships, the glimpses we get into people’s worlds during the good times and the bad, and our role in supporting people.

This is why I believe personalised care is so important, it is not just the right thing to do, but there is evidence that personalised approaches provide better outcomes, experiences and impacts how people use services.

Since joining Wessex Cancer Alliance as Programme Manager for Personalised Care it has been my pleasure to support the Right by You Wessex project team.

Right by You focuses on delivery of personalised care interventions, nurses working across boundaries to support people with cancer when and where they need it. At the heart of this project is an amazing team of nurses and cancer support workers; all joining and working together from across Wessex and different parts of our healthcare system (primary care, community services, hospital-based teams, researchers, charitable organisations) for the benefit of this project and for the people who it will support.

Nurses are central to the leadership, design, delivery and evaluation of this work, they have given it heart and soul.

After the hardest year in NHS history, I see Cancer Nurses continue to step up and step forward.

Right by You is evidence of this, as well as numerous other Wessex Cancer Alliance projects, with nurses as clinical leads, project managers, designing training modules, leading innovations, progressing stratified follow up pathways – all changing how we work and support people for the better.

Cancer Nurses have my admiration and respect, and as a fellow nurse, you have my absolute pride!

Meet Louise

 I have been a nurse in the NHS since 1982, and a cancer nurse since 1988. I’ve been really lucky to have had different nursing roles in child, adult and most recently in teenage & young adult (TYA) cancer services.

I’m currently the Teenage Cancer Trust Lead Nurse for Wessex TYA cancer services and have been part of the WCA team as advisor on child and TYA since last summer.

My WCA role covers all aspects of cancer services for children and young people aged under 25, to help provide the best possible treatment and care for this small and unique cancer patient group, and support for their families. One project I’m involved in is ‘Our Cancer Our Way‘. We are inviting young patients and their parents to be our partners to help make cancer services better.  To start off, we are asking them to tell us about their experiences, in whatever way they want – talking writing, art, photos or filming, and we hope to find new ways to work together to develop future services based on what they tell us is important to them.

If we really want to provide the best possible services, treatment and care we need to hear the expert voices of patients and families as well as expert professionals. We need to find ways to listen to their feedback, explore their ideas and to be more equal partners in designing services for the future.

I’m always proud to call myself a cancer nurse.  At the moment I’m particularly thinking of cancer nurses across the world working during the coronavirus pandemic in the most challenging times. I’m extremely proud to stand alongside them on this International Nurses Day.

Meet Pam

I am a Practice Nurse working in Primary Care and with Wessex Cancer Alliance. I have been involved with the ‘Cancer Nursing Across Boundaries’ project and currently ‘Right By You‘ as well.

I am proud and enthused to be championing cancer care in the GP surgery setting by recognising it as a long term condition and leading on cancer care reviews.

I work with the CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist) team and CSW’s (Cancer Support Worker) in secondary care and value this communication which enables a smoother path for the patient when transitioning between clinicians during diagnosis and treatment.

As nurses in Primary Care, we often are aware of the wider family and this is ideal when supporting the patient to navigate a new path on completion of their treatment.

I will shortly be starting some audit into safety netting for those patients who do not reply/decline bowel screening in our surgery and will then broaden this work across our Primary Care Network.

So Happy International Nurses Day to all.
#proud.

 Meet Maria

I have been fortunate enough to have had a very happy and personally rewarding career as a nurse and extremely proud to have been able to contribute to caring for patients with cancer both clinically and strategically.

Meet Charlotte

I’m the nursing lead for the Rapid Investigation Service – a new pathway for patients with a suspected cancer diagnosis.

I am a nurse practitioner and am working to complete my masters in advanced practice. I previously worked in specialist medicine  and for a number of years in Hepatology. I came into nursing a bit later in life and am so grateful I made the jump to leave my 9-5 job to do something I really love and a career I am truly proud of.

My current job is an exciting new role for me, and I am really lucky to be involved in starting up a completely new service, covering the region of Wessex and building a whole new nursing team to run this service.

I’m responsible for the day to day running of the service clinically and as we grow, building our team and ensuring we all reach our full potential as individuals and as a service.

Being  a nurse is a privilege and being able to support and be part of a patients journey at a time when they most need, is why I do this job- it’s the small things for me – a phone call to check in, a shoulder to lean on or a good bit of banter to brighten the day. I learn so much from my patients and colleagues and look forward to what my future nursing career brings.

Meet Kate

I’m a respiratory nurse with management experience and I’ve recently completed a PhD.

I’m working on Cancer Nursing Across Boundaries which was a nurse inspired, nurse led and nurse focused project aiming to improve integrated care for patients living with and beyond cancer. This project was shortlisted for the Cancer Nursing category in the Nursing Times award.

I believe that it’s important to provide joined up care to patients and their relatives across every stage in their cancer pathway

I’m proud to be a nurse because I believe that nurses are well-placed to provide person-centred, high quality care that matters to patients and their families.

I love being a nurse because you can do so many different roles throughout your career, with the thread of working with others and delivering person-centred care, bringing them all together.

Meet Helen

I qualified as a RGN back in the early 90’s and as a RM a few years later. I have a degree in Health Studies and I have just completed my Masers in Business and Management.  I have worked in women’s health care in Southampton for most of my career in various settings, including early pregnancy care and oncology.

I have been fortunate to work as the education lead for women’s health for the last few years which covers a variety of areas including ensuring that the nursing team are offered opportunities for continuing professional development.

I also worked as a breast cancer CNS. These two roles enabled me work with my CNS colleagues and  put together a breast cancer work-based learning module and then a gynae oncology module.

I have just started to work with WCA on a project to develop more work-based learning modules across cancer care – an opportunity that I am really looking forward to pursuing.

I think that this project is important because providing specialist education can have a positive impact on the patients’ experience and also empower the nurses who care for them.

I am proud to be a nurse because of the people that I work alongside every day and their commitment to their profession and the people that they care for.

Meet Paul

I’ve been a nurse for nearly 20 years and have always been proud of what I do, never more so than the past twelve months. I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside the most wonderfully kind and dedicated people in a profession that truly makes a difference to people’s lives.

Meet Jo

I was a HPB Clinical nurse specialist for over 14 yrs before I took the CNS role at Wessex Cancer Alliance and the Macmillan Right by You project.

It is a privilege to be part of an inspirational Project team and to be part of developing a service that will complement existing services to focus on delivery of personalised and supportive care for people and their families.

Integral to the RBY nursing team is the cancer support worker who will be working across primary , secondary and community care alongside me and the other teams. The patient and public engagement group are pivotal in the project to ensure that it is a shared vison of care by all in the developing the new service.

There are so many reasons that I feel lucky to be a nurse. It’s such a privilege to be there for people and to make a difference. Nursing for me welcomes change and diversity, compassion, innovation, leadership and supports quality of life.

Nursing is filled with more enriching than challenging moments. It is a career filled with inspirational leaders and great team members and  I’m very lucky to work alongside them. Nursing alongside other specialities enables me to focus care on what’s important to individuals as human beings, so I’m lucky to be a nurse.