NursingNetUK

Job overview

We are piloting and developing a new innovative pre-diagnostic hub clinical nurse specialist service at Colchester Hospital and this is your chance as a nurse to be part of its development and make a difference to our patients on cancer pathways.

We are looking for a Clinical Nurse Specialist Nurse to provide leadership to our new service and play a key role in it's development. This post is part time 22.5 hours per week.

The hub is being created to coordinate faster diagnosis and the safe tracking of patients with suspected or a confirmed cancer diagnosis.

We are testing a new way of working by merging the pre-diagnosis service with non-site specific and developing pathway management for patients included on the GRAIL Trial, Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) and Malignancy or Metastatic disease of Unknown Origin (MUO).

The pilot’s goal is to improve referral and diagnostic pathways. The hub will improve patient experience, access to services and waiting times on diagnostic pathways. The aim is to achieve the national objective of earlier diagnosis and support patients safely through this part of the pathway. Patients will be identified through AOS, Patient Tracking Lists (PTL) and liaison with the cancer performance and clinical teams.

This post is fixed term until 31st March 2025. Internal applicants currently employed by ESNEFT will be offered on a secondment basis only. Please ensure you have discussed this with your line manager. 

Main duties of the job

• Provides leadership to the service and line management to the staff within the hub
• Provide direct, expert and advanced clinical advice, to identified patients through health assessment, continuation of treatment and monitoring of care programmes 
• Promote a positive learning environment within clinical areas, acting as a resource for specialist advice, ensuring the development, advancement and maintenance of the highest standards of clinical practice by all healthcare professionals
• Work autonomously in decision-making and patient care, undertaking further training as required.
• Support clinical teams by facilitating patient access to various diagnostic tests and support co-ordination of the pathway in accordance with agreed guidance
• Provide information and psychological support, advising patients and their loved ones of expected next steps
• Facilitate transfer of nursing care to the relevant key worker if a cancer is diagnosed, or support discharge back to their GP if benign or otherwise indicated
• Undertake holistic needs assessments of identified patients, enabling timely support and advocacy of patients’ personalised care needs
• Be proactive in the setting up and establishment of this new hub model, actively engaging with other stakeholders to ensure that processes are robust and the service operates within the agreed guidance
• Hand over to clinical teams and/ or participate in MDT meetings where patient advocacy is required to raise any pertinent issue

Working for our organisation

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients’ own homes. 

We are the largest NHS organisation in East Anglia, employing more than 12,000 staff. 

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options. 

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services. 

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.   

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what’s widely regarded as the world’s best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients. 

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.   

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A