North East London Cancer CNS Day

On 29 June 2023, North East London hosted a special cancer clinical nurse specialist conference, to recognise the great work of our cancer CNS staff and all they do to support patients with cancer.

Held at the Bishopsgate Institute, the event kicked off with a welcome from Kathryn Halford, Chief Nurse at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust.

Health and care professionals from across north east London attended the event to show their support for our cancer CNS staff, as well as to learn from a series of thought-provoking and engaging presentations, which included:

• Vicky Cuthills, Nurse Consultant at St Mark's, who spoke about the genomics of cancer

• Prof Rebecca Verity, Director of School, The Royal Marsden School, who shared an insight into being proud to be a CNS

• Jayne Ellis, EFT training, who provided some great learning on compassion fatigue

• Azmina Rose, Lead for Cancer Patient Experience & Macmillan Support Services, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. who highlighted the importance of personalised care

There was also a dedicated session in the afternoon around community of practices to provide an opportunity for shared learning and networking for tumour specific CNSs across the cancer alliance. This was hosted by our three Lead Cancer Nurses for north east London: Alison Hill (Barts Health), Mary Flatley (Homerton Healthcare) and Maddie Glover (Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust).

To find out more about the role of a cancer clinical nurse specialist, watch our video: https://youtu.be/wFL-PJWVmoA