Ahead of National cancer clinical nurse specialist (CNS) Day, we sat down with Sarah Truman and Julie Lamb to know more about their professional journeys.
Although both of them share the same job title, the only difference is: Julie is retiring today (Thursday 13 March ) after serving more than 38 years in the NHS whilst Sarah has succeeded Julie as the lead nurse for cancer and palliative care for the trust.
From going into district nursing to initially applying for psychology, the duo have shared their own unique stories with everyone.
“Rewarding and fulfilling”
After being trained in Newcastle as a nurse in 1986, Julie’s first stint in the NHS was in the cardiothoracic surgery department in Newcastle, where she primarily worked with lung cancer patients.
She moved to Gateshead to work in breast care looking after patients who had undergone breast care surgery.
Julie said:
This is how I started my career looking after cancer patients but I started to wonder what happened to these patients after their surgery.”
Her curiosity led her to pursue a different route from being in a hospital to working in the community as a district nurse from 1996 to 2002.
Here, she passionately provided nursing care to patients in their homes and helped them manage their health needs.
Within the community setting Julie provided care to patients at the end of their lives and this experience gave Julie the skills to move into a specialist palliative care nursing role. This was initially in Newcastle, followed by a period of time within Sunderland as well.
When asked what motivated her to be a specialist palliative care nurse Julie explained that she could pinpoint it to one specific interaction.
She said: “Once, I was on the breast care ward looking after a patient who was quite unwell and as a staff nurse, I assumed I knew everything about this particular patient.
“She had several palliative care needs and as a result the patient was referred to the specialist palliative care nurse – that’s when I realised the impact a specialist nurse could have on patient care.
“The specialist palliative care nurse that came to assess the patient was so experienced and caring – she listened to every need of this particular patient – it felt like the nurse knew more about the patient in 30 minutes than I knew about her in weeks.”
Following time working clinically with patients, Julie also followed her other passion in relation to education and spent three years working as a senior lecturer practitioner in palliative care.
One thing led to another and Julie slowly but steadily climbed the professional ladder to be appointed as a lead nurse for cancer and palliative care at Gateshead.
She joined South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust over three years ago, where she took up the role of lead nurse for cancer and palliative care for the trust.
Throughout her time within the trust, Julie has worked with the cancer and specialist palliative care nursing workforce and wider teams to improve the care of the cancer and palliative care patient.
Julie has always felt that staff education was key to the delivery of care and has supported the creation of educator posts alongside delivering advanced communication skills training to ensure staff have the confidence to care for patients within these specialist areas.
“Initially applied for psychology”
Sarah Truman initially set her sights on a psychology degree before changing her mind at the last minute to opt for a nursing degree.
An opportunity arose to move into a specialist cancer role within the lung cancer team, where she supported patients at all stages of the cancer pathway. Moreover, she worked in a specialised role as part of a Macmillan pilot project working in rural North Yorkshire to support patients with a cancer diagnosis in the community.
She has also worked in a number of clinical roles within specialist palliative care and later as a nurse consultant.
Sarah has recently been appointed as the lead nurse for cancer and palliative care for the trust, where she will provide professional and clinical leadership, contributing to the planning and development of services and influencing the ongoing development of cancer care across the trust.
Sarah said: “I am incredibly proud and excited to have been appointed into this role and to have the opportunity to influence, share expertise and continue to develop our cancer and palliative care services.”