GET INVOLVED

Feature (01 July 2021): Bronwen Sumsion
Bronwen Sumsion is a clinical practice educator at the Royal Marsden Hospital. As a PE she covers 4 wards which care for both medical and surgical oncology patients. Her role is diverse but focuses on staff development through clinical skills training and working clinically on the wards with the nursing teams. She is also a teaching Fellow at Kings College University, working with Pre -reg students and supporting the module team to deliver the adult nursing year 1 curriculum. She has been a UKONS champion for 2 years. She would like to see champions being able to contribute more to learning events and have a section on the UKONS website to produce regular updates on oncology nursing practice issues. UKONS champions offer a buddying scheme to other oncology nurses to help share good practice. At RMH she has been involved with developing a SACT steering group to work collectively to ensure that the workforce develops and maintains SACT skills through the training of new staff and ensuring existing staff maintain competence. Working at RMH she feels fortunate to have access to both in-house training and HEI approved courses to help develop nurses both clinically and academically. If you would like to contact her directly her email is Bronwen.sumsion@rmh.nhs.uk

Feature (15 July 2021): Jane Ewang
Current job role and key responsibilities 
I am currently working as the Radiotherapy Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Harley Street Clinic in London. The key responsibilities of my role are to support patients from all tumour groups as they undergo specialised radiotherapy treatments and help them manage any side effects they might be experiencing. I also provide patient education and advice both pre and post-treatment and am always looking for ways to improve my service and patient experience.

How long have you been a UKONS Champion, and do you have any suggestions as to how this role can develop for the future? 
I have been a UKONS Champion for just over a year now and have seen the Champions grow exponentially. I feel that this group holds a wealth of experience and knowledge that is yet to be explored and believe it will continue to grow, providing a cancer nursing support network. This will expose the Champions to opportunities that they perhaps wouldn’t be exposed to normally.

Have you been involved with any new service developments or innovations in the last 18 months?
We have recently implemented some pre-treatment information sessions for patients, to improve their knowledge and understanding prior to commencing treatment. These have initially been rolled out to our prostate patients and are in the form of virtual sessions which has allowed us to reach a wider patient population. We hope to extend this to other patient groups in the near future.

Can you describe any opportunities or challenges within your service development or innovation?
Time is always a challenge in all that we do as nurses, but I believe this is a worthwhile project to better the patient experience, therefore I have made the time to support this service development.

Is there any other information that you would like to share with other UKONS members?
Being a part of UKONS has given me some incredible opportunities and exposed me to some amazing people who work within cancer care. I would encourage all UKONS members to talk to each other, keep the conversation going and create spaces where we can all learn from one another.

Would you be happy to share your contact details?
I would be happy to be contacted by other UKONS members.