All children and young people diagnosed with cancer are treated in one of the 21 specialist hospital centres across the UK and Ireland. These are known as Principal Treatment Centres.
Specialist centres in childhood cancer (Principal Treatment Centres)
Often, some of the treatment which your child receives can be given at your local hospital under the guidance of the nearest specialist centre. This allows your child to be treated closer to home and, more importantly, gives better access to local community support services.
This is called 'shared care' and the local hospitals are known as Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Units (POSCU).
CLIC Sargent Nurse Educators
CLIC Sargent have recently (March 2017) invested in a new role to support health care professionals supporting children with cancer: the Nurse Educator.
There are currently 19 Principal Treatment Centres (PTC) in the UK. A PTC is a centre where a child will be diagnosed with cancer and the treatment plan decided. Depending where the child lives in the country they may go to the PTC for all of their cancer treatment. In some parts of the country cancer treatment can be given at a shared care hospital.
A paediatric oncology shared care unit (POSCU) is a hospital nearer to the child's home e.g. District General Hospital. The POSCU works in partnership with the PTC, to offer the child supportive care closer to home e.g. blood transfusions, antibiotics, blood tests. Some POSCU give chemotherapy, as prescribed by the PTC, too. The services available at POSCU in different parts of the country vary but they all offer valuable supportive care to families closer to their homes.
Many children with cancer also receive care in their homes. This could be from staff of 'outreach' services from the PTC, POSCU or staff from children's community nursing teams (CCNs).
The POSCU and CCN are ‘generalist’ services i.e. they offer care and support to children with diverse health needs e.g. asthma, diabetes, general surgery. The staff at POSCUs and CCN are very skilled and enthusiastic about caring for children with a whole range of health needs including cancer. However they may not care for children with cancer every day so it is important that they work closely with the PTC to maintain their knowledge, skills and confidence in this speciality.
The Nurse Educators will work with PTCs, POSCUs and CCNs to identify any areas where the support offered to children with cancer closer to home, or at home, can be enhanced so that the teams can confidently use the skills they have to care for children with cancer. For example by offering more regular skills update sessions for the staff (nurses, doctors, play specialists, etc.) at POSCU/CCN team.
The Nurse Educator has an honorary contract with the local PTC to ensure her/his clinical knowledge is up to date. The Nurse Educator works with the various professionals to understand where she/he can best offer educational support. We are also keen for families, children and young people to give feedback on local needs. This can be done at any time by completing the CLIC Sargent feedback form.
The first Nurse educator will act as a resource for health professionals in the North of England and then further posts will follow around the UK.