Clinical nurse specialists

If you come to Barts Cancer Centre for your treatment, you will be assigned a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) who is an expert for your type of cancer and will help you through every step of your treatment. Not all cancer hospitals offer this, but at Barts, we believe it makes a huge difference to the care we can give you before, during and after your treatment.

The role of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) can be quite complex but they are there to help and support you through your cancer pathway, and will give you the information you need at each stage.

The CNS will usually be identified as your key worker and will be your main point of contact during your care.

Clinical nurse specialists are involved in:

Clinical care

Your clinical nurse specialist will be actively involved in your care, and will work closely you, your family and with the staff on the wards to plan your care and put it into practice. Many clinical nurse specialists will also offer nurse-led services such as pre assessment for chemotherapy or telephone clinics.

Indirect patient care

Your clinical nurse specialist will participate in discussions at multi-disciplinary team meetings about your care, and where required, will liaise with other team members both within our hospital and at other organisations. They will also be able to offer you advice on clinical trials available and refer you to other services as necessary.

Emotional support

A large part of CNS work involves helping people cope with the diagnosis and treatment of their cancer. If you have cancer, you may have many questions, fears and anxieties about your diagnosis and your CNS is able to give expert advice about a this, about your treatment and discuss any issues that your and your family might have.

Your CNS is available throughout the treatment pathway to give advice and support. If you need any treatment at another hospital, your CNS will make contact with colleagues outside of Barts Cancer Centre to ensure a smooth handover of care.