Secondary Breast Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist

The post involves developing and delivering the clinical nurse specialist service at peripheral sites.To act as a keyworker to patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and providing support and information throughout their cancer pathway as well as participation in service development.Successful candidates will have a minimum of 5 years post registration, with previous experience in breast oncology and ideally, having some palliative care knowledge and experience in managing patients with advancing disease. Advanced communication skills are essential.Informal enquires and visits are encouraged. Please contact Sharon Foy on 0161 446 3996 or email Sharon.foy1@nhs.net and ask to talk to current nursing team members at the-christie.peripheralsbcn@nhs.net

1. To provide comprehensive and specialist assessment such as holistic needs assessment and care planning for patients with a range of highly complex presentations, by utilising advanced clinical reasoning, evidenced based knowledge, investigative and analytical skills and specialist assessment techniques.2. To provide support and advice accordingly with the aim of promoting optimal quality of life.3. Plan, implement and evaluate care delivery both physical and psychological according to changing health care needs to ensure continuity of effective patient care and considers inclusivity and personalisation.4. To communicate complex clinical findings to the patient/carers to gain valid informed consent prior to any intervention or procedure.5. To work within a legal framework for those patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.6. To ensure that the delivery of kind, compassionate and respectful care takes place and that the Clinical Nurse Specialist Team develop relationships with patients that encourages collaborative decision making.7. Ensure the maintenance of professional contemporaneous records at all times, document all actions and interventions in a clear, honest and timely manner in line with Trust policy.8. Collect, collate, evaluate and report information, Involve patients and carers/relatives and work closely with secondary breast cancer user involvement in the planning and delivery of care and development of services to enhance the patient/carer experience.9. Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patient needs are met, especially in relation to ongoing support and palliative care needs. This may encompass primary, secondary and other tertiary care providers.10. In conjunction with specialist palliative care, ensure optimal symptom control.11. Ensure assessment and timely diagnosis of disease progression and that adequate support is in place.12. Develop effective teamwork, to ensure that the delivery of patient care is reviewed as part of a multidisciplinary team. To attend metastatic MDT meetings and team meetings as appropriate and to contribute to discussions about individual patients. To attend other professional and clinical meetings as appropriate.13. Deal with concerns raised by patients and carers in a proactive manner, review patient feedback results and update patient experience improvement plans as needed.14. Champion a safeguarding culture, which meets the needs of people with issues involving mental capacity or children.15. Ensure patients, relatives and other staff are received in a professional manner and act in a courteous and polite manner at all times, thereby ensuring good public relations between patients, public and staff.16. Use advanced communication skills in a variety of settings.17. To have an advanced knowledge of local and national standards that may impact on practice.18. To run the nurse led clinic and telephone clinics.19. To support, mentor, lead and educate the band 6and band 4 members of the team.

20. To communicate effectively and support patients and carers prior to, during and after treatment and at key points in their cancer journey i.e disease progression/ advanced care planning.

21. To be aware of current research protocols and liaise with the Breast Research Nurses regarding eligibility.

23. To act always in accordance with the NMC Code of Conduct and Guiding Documents.

Managerial/Clinical Leadership.

1. To provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients and carers/relatives both within and outside the Trust and manage a caseload of patients.

2. Evaluate service delivery; identify areas for improvement and initiate change.

3. To build effective professional relationships with Greater Manchester Cancer and across Acute and Community settings.

4. To provide written evidence of service development and performance participating in Macmillan reviews and annual report.

5. Initiate and support clinical developments / projects to promote excellence in patient care.

6. Provide and receive clinical supervision and mentorship to facilitate reflective practice and attend peer supervision.

7. Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement by working with service users.

8. Attend and participate in the CNS Forum and other committees and meetings at divisional and at a strategic Trust level

9. Act as a role model presenting a professional image at all times.

10. To take part in recruitment and selection of appropriate staff in the team

11. To be fully aware of the divisional objectives and the Trusts corporate plan.

Education and Development.

1. To participate in annual appraisal and accept personal responsibilities for professional growth and development.

2. To identify training needs of non-specialist Christie and Network colleagues and develop educational programmes in collaboration with Breast colleagues.

3. To provide specialist input, develop and teach on relevant post registration courses.

4. Together with other professional colleagues develop information and resource packs for patients and their carers.

5. Maintain a professional portfolio

1. To ensure that clinical practice is based on evidence and current best practice and to disseminate information to staff.

2. To identify areas of Breast nursing practice that need to be researched and to participate where appropriate in nursing and multi disciplinary research, clinical audit, and benchmarking, in order to improve effectiveness of patient care.

3. Disseminate and promote best practice through presentation at regional, national and international oncology conferences. Provide written and verbal feedback to colleagues.

4. Contribute to the writing of protocols relevant to Breast specialty.

5. Undertake, where appropriate, nursing research with published outcomes.

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, looking after more than 64,000 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 25% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We are the largest radiotherapy provider in the NHS with one in 20 treatments delivered at The Christie. We have up to 15 linear accelerators operating across our network of sites. We operate the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK on our main site and treatments are also provided at 13 other networked sites, and in patients homes. And as a specialist tertiary surgical centre, we focus on rare cancers, complex procedures, and multidisciplinary approaches to cancer surgery, specialising in colorectal, peritoneal, gynaecological, urological and plastic surgery.

We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We have been named by the UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), as one of the best hospitals providing opportunities for patients to participate in clinical research studies, with more than 800 studies open at any time, caring for over 3,000 patients.

Qualifications

Essential: - RGN; - Degree in Nursing/Health related subject; - Post registration qualification in Oncology; - Teaching and assessing

Desirable: - Masters Degree; - Counselling Certificate; - Palliative care certificate

Experience

Essential: - Breast Cancer experience; - Participation in service development and implementation of changes

Desirable: - Nursing leadership; - Project management; - Experience of influencing change

Skills

Desirable: - Evidence of writing protocols/standards; - Evidence of effective team working across professional and organisational boundaries

Knowledge

Essential: - Knowledge of professional and NHS issues, and policies relating to the breast speciality; - Evidence of continuing professional development

Values

Essential: - Ability to demonstrate the organizational values and behaviours

Other

Essential: - Demonstrates flexibility in working hours; - Full Clean Driving Licence