Staff spotlight: clinical nurse specialists for breast cancer

We spoke to our team of clinical nurse specialists in breast cancer care about how their roles help patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

‘Our team has a range of nursing experience, with backgrounds in areas from women’s health to oncology and surgery. A lot of us chose this career pathway in particular because we really value the patient contact.

‘In terms of the day-to-day role, we’re supporting patients through their cancer treatment and beyond. We aim to be there for a patient from the point of diagnosis, and then support them through all of their treatment – and even when they’re discharged from a clinical setting, they still have phone contact with us for support and advice.

‘We recently had a student visitor join us in clinic for the day, and afterwards they said “You really have the most amazing job; you are making such a difference to people’s lives.” And I think that’s exactly why I love my job – you feel like you make a difference to these people, turning something that can be quite a negative experience into something positive. It can be tough at times, but it’s incredibly rewarding.

‘For anyone looking to follow the route into this specialty, our advice would be to gain as much relevant experience as possible. Like I said, our nursing experience as a team is vast, and covers areas encompassing oncology, surgery, women’s health and palliative care, but it’s that deep level of knowledge that becomes really valuable as a clinical nurse specialist.

‘One of our Trust values is to be always improving, and that’s something we see when thinking about the future of our service. As technology advances, we’re excited to see that reflected in our area - if we could improve the technology to streamline things like scheduling and booking appointments in our area, it would help us to focus even more on the job we love - helping our patients.’

If you'd like to join one of the nursing teams across our Trust, you can find our current nursing vacancies here.