The clinical lead nurse at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre and Chair of TYAC talks to us about his career, plans and interests.
Q: Tell us a little about your career so far...
A: I’m a registered children’s nurse and teacher and have spent the majority of my career working with children, teenagers and young people with cancer. Since starting my nursing career I’ve worked in many clinical roles, but also in research and education. Latterly, I led the development of a teenage and young adult regional service in the South West, and established the first Teenage Cancer Trust-funded unit in Bristol alongside a number of significant service development initiatives. Currently, I’m the clinical lead nurse for the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre.
Q: Tell us about your role as Chair with TYAC?
A: Well, so far, it’s certainly been a challenge! As a consequence of the pandemic, TYAC, alongside many other organisations, was hugely affected and in many ways was forced into prolonged hibernation during most of 2020. Many of the initiatives and outputs we had planned were put on hold as we recognised the significant efforts and focus of all our members committed to ensuring cancer care and delivery was sustained. As we slowly - and cautiously - start to look forward, TYAC and myself as Chair remain aware of these challenges, yet committed to relaunching our 2020-2025 strategy to ensure TYAC is the leading national platform in influencing and progressing teenage and young adult cancer treatment and care.
Q: What plans do you have?
A: TYAC’s always been proud of our commitment to delivering first-class education, and developing best practice guidelines for service development and expert information guidance for patients and families. We’ll continue to build and enhance these, but we have ambitions to broaden our output as detailed in the 2020-2025 strategy. This will include a focus on world-class research dedicated to TYA cancer and to further support and engage with our members by growing our special interest groups and online communities.
Q: What is your proudest career moment?
A: There’s been many to date but most notable are the occasions when either you or your team have been able to make a profound difference to a young person or their family. Even the simplest gesture at a time of crisis can make a profound difference, and it’s these moments that I cherish and keep me focused on what’s important and why we do what we do.
Q: What does your job mean to you?
A: This is a hard one, particularly as the last 18 months have placed enormous strains on our teams, services and sadly, our patients and families. But I still believe what we do is a privilege despite all the challenges, and I’m enormously proud to be a nurse and to work with the most remarkable colleagues and teams.
Q: What are your interests, professionally and personally?
A: Professionally, I’m about to start a coaching course which I have interests in developing further. Personally, I’m often busy transporting two teenagers around to various clubs and activities so there’s little time for much else – although I am training for an Ironman in Ireland next August!
Q: Do you have a message for young people affected by cancer?
A: Be kind to yourself, use the people around you and take each day at a time.
From Contact magazine issue 93 - December 2021
