Mentorship for primary care colleagues providing care and support for people with cancer and their families
Pam Kay, Cancer Care Practice Nurse (PN) in Southampton and Right By You Wessex team member, is offering bespoke mentoring to Practice Nurses in Wessex who would like to better understand the needs of people living with cancer. This will include the delivery of effective cancer care reviews and improved liaison with secondary care to support the timely sharing of information and improve the patient experience of care.
Hi, I’m Pam. I work one day a week with the Right By You (RBY) Wessex team and three days as a cancer care Practice Nurse in Primary Care.
My PN role is with patients registered at the GP surgery with a cancer diagnosis. I am involved at point of diagnosis and offer support throughout treatment and life beyond for the patient, care givers and families. I complete both the 3 and 12-month cancer care reviews (CCR) and liaise with Secondary Care to enable effective and timely communications for both patients and clinicians. My RBY role gives me the opportunity to blend both work families and encourage PNs to better understand the needs of people living with cancer and to be skilled and competent to undertake CCRs.
By offering bespoke mentorship, either virtually or face-to-face, the learning can be individually tailored around specific training needs for Practice Nurses and other professionals in the primary healthcare team (e.g. social prescribers, care coordinators). Ongoing support can be offered once the professional feels the mentorship has met their needs. We share learning via the National Primary Care Informal Discussion Group. This takes place every two months via Microsoft Teams. Visit the page for more information or to join.
If you have any questions or feel you would like to take up this offer of mentorship, please contact me: pamkay@nhs.net
She has been fantastic, mentoring me since September – she comes into the surgery and is always available via email. She has provided a wealth of knowledge and has shared all her contacts with me.
Pam informed me of Right by You, a service I have referred several patients into. They have been excellent and send me regular updates about patients. I am in regular contact with the whole team. This has saved many face-to-face and telephone appointments with the Doctors.