‘New opportunities’ for cancer nursing careers under government plan

The government has promised to introduce ‘new opportunities’ for newly registered and experienced nurses to pursue a career in cancer nursing, as part of its National Cancer Plan for England.

Published today, the 86-page blueprint pledges that all patients will have a clinical nurse specialist or other named lead to support them through diagnosis and treatment.

Over the next decade, the government said, ‘much more’ cancer treatment will take place away from hospitals and in people’s homes and neighbourhood health centres, and that ‘skilled nursing’ would be central to this.

The plan sets out government aims to ensure 75% of patients diagnosed from 2035 will be ‘cancer-free or living well after five years’ and that the NHS will meet ‘all cancer waiting time standards by 2029’.

It details expansion of robot-assisted surgeries, genomic testing, faster diagnostics and treatment at specialist centres.

‘Every patient will have a clinical nurse specialist’

The plan provides a focus on the role of specialist nurses, including advanced nurse practitioners, and the ambition for more nurse consultants within cancer care.

A key action point states: ‘Every patient will have a clinical nurse specialist or other named lead to support them through diagnosis and treatment.

‘Cancer pathways can be complex and difficult to navigate. This is only becoming more true over time – as [is] our understanding of the complexity of cancer as a condition increases, as treatment innovations shift the types of side effects patients develop, and as more patients have multiple long-term conditions.

‘As such, clinical nurse specialists need to be more central in workforce models.’

‘New opportunities for cancer nursing’

The government also promised to expand opportunities for nurses to enter cancer care.

‘Beginning this year, we will create new opportunities to make it easier for newly qualified and experienced nurses to pursue careers in cancer nursing, including as nurse consultants,’ the plan said.

Grants for clinical nurse specialists will be prioritised in ‘the areas of highest need’ and more training opportunities and career pathways for cancer nurses will be created through an expanded Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development (ACCEND) programme.

In line with the government’s overall plans for the NHS, the cancer blueprint highlights that by 2035, it is expected that ‘much more’ cancer treatment will take place in community and neighbourhood settings.

‘There will be (at least) two big enablers of this shift: first, sufficient scale within neighbourhood services to make community treatment viable and, second, skilled nursing,’ the plan said.

This would be achieved through ‘a mix of increased staff supply, skill escalators, advanced practice and new consultant nurse roles – more detail of which will be given in forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan’.

As part of the government’s NHS neighbourhood model, it said all cancer patients would also have a named ‘neighbourhood lead’ – which could include professionals from beyond the NHS such as a hospice nurse.

‘They will be responsible for the coordination of a cancer patient’s neighbourhood support, including their multi-disciplinary team,’ the plan said.

‘They will be a community counterpart to, and work closely with, a patient’s named and often hospital-based clinical nurse specialist.’

Government ‘recognises crucial role’ of specialist nurses

Responding to the plan, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief nursing officer Lynn Woolsey said: ‘This is an ambitious plan that can improve outcomes for those of us who will get a cancer diagnosis in our lifetime.

‘It also rightly recognises the crucial role specialist nurses, such as advanced nurse practitioners, can play in delivering it. Our highly skilled profession stands ready.

‘The reality is that a successful cancer plan needs nursing staff at its heart. That includes highly skilled advanced nurse practitioners and cancer nurse specialists who devise and deliver person-centred treatment plans, but also community, district nurses and palliative care nurses who help people recover and live with cancer from home.’

She added: ‘Meeting targets, reducing waiting times and helping people live longer needs highly skilled nurses as well as new technologies.’

Ms Woolsey said the RCN looked forward to seeing the highly anticipated workforce plan and ministers ‘intend to grow and nurture the nursing leaders who will help transform cancer care’.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Cancer survival shouldn’t come down to who won the lottery of life. But cancer is more likely to be a death sentence in Britain than other countries around the world.

‘Thanks to the revolution in medical science and technology, we have the opportunity to transform the life chances of cancer patients. Our cancer plan will invest in and modernise the NHS, so that opportunity can be seized and our ambitions realised.

‘This plan will slash waits, invest in cutting-edge technology, and give every patient the best possible chance of beating cancer.’