Oncology Liaison Nurse, Medical Oncology

Job Title: Oncology Liaison Nurse

Department: Cancer Services

Reports to: Head of Cancer Services 

Working Relationship: Consultant Medical Oncologists at Beacon Hospital

Accountable to: Director of Nursing

Overview of the Role

The Oncology Liaison Nurse will have a pivotal role in meeting the psychological, emotional and information needs of cancer patients and their families and significant others.  He or she will be a key member of the multi-disciplinary team responsible for the care of cancer patients and will provide exceptional patient care in an environment where quality, respect, caring and compassion are at the centre of all we do.

The Oncology Liaison Nurse will liaise closely with all clinicians involved in the diagnosis, management, and ongoing care of all patients referred to Cancer Services at Beacon Hospital.  He or she will liaise with other health care professionals involved in patient care within the hospital, with other health care agencies as appropriate and with community services.  

While being autonomous, the Oncology Liaison Nurse shall be aware of their scope of practice, and the need to refer patients to specialist services.  The post holder will have an important educational role within the inter-disciplinary team and will play a role in the development of quality initiatives.

This role will be for the relevant consultant appointed by your Manager and provide clinical support to the Oncology Day Unit. 

There will be an expectation to work in the Oncology Day Unit when the relevant consultant appointed by your Manager service allows. 

Main role, duties and responsibilities of the Oncology Liaison Nurse

Clinical Focus

Help meet the psychological, emotional and informational needs of cancer patients at the time of diagnosis, and throughout treatment.  

The support will be provided in the following areas:

• Inpatient oncology unit.
• Oncology Day Unit.
• Throughout the hospital to patients who are referred to the Oncology Service via a consultant.

Provide support to the family and significant others, through listening, problem solving, and education.

• Provide outreach support to patients at home.
• Access patients regarding their need for referral to specialist services.
• Collate and organise multidisciplinary meetings on a fortnightly basis or more often if required.
• Attend all multidisciplinary meetings.
• Foster good working relationships with all members of the oncology team.
• Maintain accurate clinical records (via Meditech system), which comply with legislation and best practice.
• He or she will ensure that all cancer patients who are referred to the service are seen by the Oncology Liaison Nurse.
• Demonstrate specialist knowledge of and clinical expertise in the delivery of patient care.
• Be aware of all hospital policies and procedures and collaborate with other health care professionals to ensure that these are observed.
• Be actively involved in the preparation and implementation of policies, and in collaboration with other health care professionals ensure that they are observed.
• Be actively involved in the preparation and implementation of policies and nursing guidelines in relation to the management of care to cancer patients.
• Demonstrate leadership ability and good communication skills.
• Give test results to patients that are uncomplicated including scans, laboratory and covid results.
• Submit patients for MDT, with all patient details, history and reason for referral. 
• Genetic Testing / Molecular Profiling / OncoType Tests
• Request / Consent patients.
• Maintain a data base for this patient cohort detailing request and follow up. 
• Review this data base monthly and update.
• Ensure that each patient has a copy of their results.
•  Review in patients, this does not have to be part of the formal round.
• Develop professional working relationships within the hospital and wider national and international cancer network including:
• Pathology 
• Radiology 
• Diagnostics 
• Liaison Nurses within other specialties and in other hospitals 
• Clinical Trials Nurses in other hospitals
• Ensure all patient and family contact / discussion, in person or on the phone is documented on Meditech.
• All changes in treatment plans should be documented by the Liaison Nurse in Meditech. 
• Ensure Consultant Clinics are prepared appropriately including:
• All clinical data ready for clinics 
• Pathology and outstanding pathology testing are followed up 
• Past history and dictations available
• Consultants secretary can gather all the above information but it is the responsibility of the Liaison Nurse to review and organise all data.
• New Patients:
• Education 
• All criteria on Pre-Chemotherapy Checklist completed 
• Order all required pre-treatment tests 
• Ensure clear treatment plan for the patient is available for ODU and pharmacy 
• Liaise with ODU and Ward on treatment of patients 
• Give uncomplicated scan results
• Review Clinical Pathway
• Ensure follow up post chemo established 

Patient Advocate

• Provide an efficient, effective, and high-quality service.
• Act as a resource and contact person for oncology patients attending other departments within the hospital or outside the hospital for treatment.
• Provide patients and family or significant others with contact details as per business card.
• Be aware of existing resources and services, which help patients and their families or significant others, e.g. social services, support groups, entitlements.
• Act as an advocate for patients undergoing clinical trials, providing information as appropriate and communicating with research staff.
• Participate in team discussions regarding treatment of oncology patients.

Education and Training

• Provide support to oncology nursing staff by means of regular group meetings to discuss particular patient cases, which have been found to be stressful.
• Assist in the development and delivery of teaching and training programmes.
• Play an active role in teaching of all grades of nursing staff and other disciplines as required.
• Use relevant educational opportunities to maintain the highest standards and up to date care offered to the oncology patient.

Personal Development

• The Oncology Liaison Nurse will be expected to continually provide leadership in efforts to improve the Oncology service within Beacon Hospital.
• Maintain professionalism at all times and adhere to the code of professional conduct and scope of practice as described by Nursing & Midwife Board Register.
• Attend courses and conferences as appropriate to speciality and disseminate information gained with colleagues, as appropriate.
• Accept responsibility for own personal professional development and to be aware of current trends and strategies in nursing, particularly those that are relevant to providing the highest standard of support and care to oncology patients.

Information Technology

• Ensure that the team makes the most effective and efficient use of developments in information technology for both patient care and administrative support in a manner.

Personal and Professional Development

• To develop the required skills and knowledge to support the service needs within the scope of professional practice.
• To undertake appropriate further training to enhance nursing practice within the specialist area.
• Identifies own continuing professional development needs and engages accordingly.

Education

• To possess highly specialised knowledge regarding disease.  This knowledge shall be acquired through relevant study and experience.
• To provide an educational service for patients and their families, formally and informally. 
• To incorporate health promotion principles into all aspects of nursing care.
• To participate in teaching programmes and in-service training programmes for all staff.
• To ensure adequate patient education material is available and contribute to developing new educational material where required.
• Recognise the opportunity for clinical supervision and access if appropriate.
• Have full understanding of drugs that need pre-approval and expedite care with approval letters and follow up.  All patient information is in the electronic medical record.

Quality Assurance, Audit and Research

• Ensure that his or her
•  own practice is compliant and up to date with best practice, which is reflected in research and developments in cancer care.
• To initiate and audit the effectiveness of the service provided by the Oncology Liaison Nurse, in conjunction with the Medical Oncology Team.
• Ensure that clinical practice, procedures and standards of care are evidence based and remain dynamic, ensuring quality service development to meet patient's needs.
• Encourage, imitate and participate in nursing research where appropriate.
• To evaluate findings and assist with implementation of necessary change to improve the service.
• Participate in regular audit of his or her own clinical practice.
• Ensure that development and maintenance of a quality assurance programme which is patient centred.
• Use such research findings to influence care within the specialty.
• In conjunction with the oncology nurse managers, the DON, and oncology consultants, set objectives and develop policies, procedures and standards for the oncology nursing service, which are based on current nursing research and relevant research from other disciplines.
• Identify areas within the speciality relevant to nursing practice, which would benefit from research.
• Promote awareness of research-based practice amongst staff.
• Participate in departmental research related to the speciality.
• Contributes to service planning and budgetary processes through use of audit, data and specialist knowledge.
• To maintain awareness of current developments in oncology.

Governance

The post holder will operate at all times to high standards of probity.  This will include compliance with:

• All policies and procedures approved by Beacon Hospital.
• Work within limitations of the role.
• Nursing & Midwife Board Registered Professional Code of Conduct.
• The Cancer Control Strategy.

The post holder will be expected to

• As the Oncology Liaison Nurse provide leadership within the area of Oncology within the services that Beacon Hospital provides.
• Support the aims and vision of the Beacon Hospital and the Beacon Hospital Cancer Centre.
• Act with honesty and integrity at all times.
• Be a positive ambassador for the hospital. 
• Demonstrate high standards of personal conduct.
• Value and respect colleagues, other members of staff and patients.
• Work with others to develop and improve our services.

This job description is not intended to be a complete list of duties and responsibilities but is a guide for information to the job.  The post holder may be required, after consultation, to carry out other related tasks, which may not be specifically mentioned above.

Qualifications

Essential

• Nursing & Midwife Board Registered General Nurse (NMBI) Registration.
• H.Dip in Oncology Nursing 

Desirable:

• Masters in Oncology Nursing.

Professional Training and Development

• Minimum of 5 years post registration experience.
• With 3 years experience in the area of medical oncology.
• Management Development.

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities

• Excellent communications skills.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills.
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to work alone and organise own caseload.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to initiate and manage change.
• Good IT and computer skills.
• Course in teaching and assessing in clinical practice.
• Experience in research.

Interest & Motivation

Interest in the development of the role of Oncology Liaison Nurse, and development of services for future.

Personal Competencies

All posts in the Beacon Hospital require a high level of flexibility to ensure the delivery of an effective and efficient service.  Therefore, the post holder will be required to demonstrate flexibility as and when required by their manager or hospital management.

This job description is intended to be an outline of the areas of responsibility and deliverables at the time of its writing.  As the Hospital and the post holder develop, this job description may be subject to review in light of the changing needs of the Hospital.