Job overview

The Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) will provide expert nursing care and psychosocial support for patients and their carers, with skin cancer (primary and metastatic disease).

· Responsibility for the provision of a high quality service that is equitable and consistent, in line with the NICE Skin Cancer Guidelines.

· Co-ordinate the care of patients with skin cancer referred to the Local Skin and Specialist Skin MDTs

· To be a core member of the Specialist Skin Cancer MDT working closely with dermatologists, plastic surgeons and oncologists specialising in the care of patients with skin cancer

· It is expected that the CNS will maintain skills in the appropriate clinical areas by attending Consultants’ clinics and running nurse led follow-up clinics, nurse led biopsy clinics and monitoring skin cancer surveillance clinics for dermatology patients as well as support of other nurse led activity in the department.

· As a senior nurse within the Trust the CNS would participate and contribute at senior management level in service developments and initiatives.

· To assist the lead skin cancer clinician in the development of specialist skin cancer services in the department

Main duties of the job

Identify gaps in current knowledge base of junior staff in Dermatological cancer care and disseminate specialist knowledge to others in order to improve patient care.

To actively contribute to the management of Dermatological multidisciplinary service.

 Lead in the provision of patient centred care, recognising the essential contributions, which are made by other professional groups.

Participate in the development of collaborative clinics/services.

Engage with relatives and patients in preventing formal complaints arising, in order to agree local resolution.

To be fully conversant with the Trust policy on Child Protection issues and take appropriate action by referring to relevant agencies if cause for concern.

As the lead for clinical cancer nursing, and in association with other members of the multi-professional team, provide all aspects of care & information to patients & assist staff already involved in the care of patients through the following interventions:

Act as a role model in expert practice facilitating and supporting the delivery of effective patient care by use of clinical judgement and decision-making skills.

Assist other nursing staff in developing appropriate highly specialised nursing plans of care for individual patients or client groups.

Identify and promote areas for practice development, including guidelines and procedures to support the delivery of care.

Ensure that nursing care is evidence based.

Working for our organisation

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the only acute Hospital in the London Borough of Hillingdon and offers a wide range of services including accident and emergency, inpatient care, day surgery, outpatient clinics and maternity services. The Trust’s services at Mount Vernon Hospital include routine day surgery, delivered at a modern treatment centre, a minor injuries unit and outpatient clinics.

The safety and well-being of our patients and of our staff is paramount and we are making urgent improvements to address this – particularly in infection prevention and control. We are making progress and going forward by working in partnership with local GPs, charities,
community services, academic partners, our local authority, neighbouring hospitals and the wider North West London Integrated care system, and ensuring that we listen and work in partnership with our local population. We are absolutely focused on ensuring that our hospitals
provide high quality, safe and compassionate care, while drive forward the building of the new Hillingdon Hospital.

We have over 3,500 members of staff that are proud to care for nearly half a million people, with a vision to be an outstanding provider of healthcare through leading health and academic partnerships, transforming services, to provide the best care where needed.