National leadership award for cancer nurse specialist

Macmillan lung cancer nurse specialist Lisa Wells delivering a presentation at the national oncology forum

Congratulations to our Macmillan lung cancer nurse specialist Lisa Wells on winning a national award for leadership and innovation in cancer nursing.

She was presented with the Lynn Adams Award at the UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS) conference in November.

Lisa said: “I feel very flattered, because although I developed the project for which I was nominated, it’s taken a whole team of people and their commitment to implement it. But it’s lovely for myself and theteam to be recognised because we have worked very hard. It’s a nice acknowledgement of what we’ve achieved.”

Model of care for lung cancer patients
Lisa had previously done some short pilot projects, audits and focus groups around admission of cancer patients which identified that patients and carers – although they felt supported by the Macmillan team – still had unmet needs. As a result she developed a proactive model of care for lung cancer patients, and applied to Macmillan for funding of a complex case manager and a care coordinator to help implement the project.

She said: “What we are now able to do is assess and prioritise the holistic needs of patients - either in their own home or in clinic - to see what personalised support we can provide. We run a telephone support clinic and contact patients proactively to find out how they’re getting on. Those that are more poorly get a more frequent telephone call.

“We also provide a care plan that we share across secondary and primary care so that everybody knows what’s happening with that patient. We operate a rapid response system so that if someone’s struggling at home and needs an intervention, like a care package or equipment at home to help them remain in their own home, then we go out and visit patients on an emergency basis to sort those things out for them.

“With this project we try to pick up the problems early and stop them building up to crisis point. We’ve always tried to be proactive, but this really is a totally patient-focused approach and it makes a huge and positive difference to the care of patients.”

The project is now in its third year and due to end in October, so we are now talking with commissioners to try and establish it as a permanent service.

Lisa said: “It’s been a real team effort so the award is a nice acknowledgement of the hard work that we’ve put in and the challenges we’ve overcome. It endorses the project and the very good outcomes it has achieved for patients. I was presented with a certificate and plaque at conference, but for me personally the greatest reward was to be able to stand up and present at that national oncology forum in front of very senior cancer nurse colleagues.”

The rest of the team, without whom Lisa says that she could not have achieved the award, are: Julie Reece (Macmillan complex case manager), Rebecca Tapp Macmillan (lung cancer support nurse), and Georgie Morriss (Macmillan lung cancer care coordinator).