Clinical Nurse Specialists are crucial in providing expert support to cancer patients, but a recent Macmillan survey highlighted that 37% of the current workforce are over 50 years old. When the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust identified that CNSs in five specialties were due for retirement over the next few years, they decided to take an innovative approach to recruitment. A bespoke 18-month development programme was created for Band 5 nurses who wanted to progress to CNS positions. The participants took on practice placements in the different specialties to gain insight into the role and the cancer pathway. The programme used the Macmillan Competency Framework for Nurses and included Macmillan e-learning courses, plus the Royal Marsden Foundations in Cancer Care Level 6 module.
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