Skills for Health in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support have published new resources to promote greater consistency in the quality of cancer care nursing.
The “nationally transferable” role (NTR) template for Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialists sets out the core competences and learning needs associated with the role to ensure a consistent quality of care across services, wherever the role is used. Almost 2,000 nurses are currently employed as Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialists in the UK and it is hoped that the template will help to standardise the competences expected of them, as well supporting nationally-agreed learning and development pathways. The template is suitable for use by healthcare providers in the NHS, independent and voluntary sectors throughout the UK. Jacqui Graves, clinical programme manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Macmillan Cancer Support is delighted to have worked in partnership with Skills for Health to develop a Nationally Transferable Role (NTR) for Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialists. There are approximately 6,000 cancer specialist nurses working across the UK and around a third of these are Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialists. All are working differently and until now there have been no agreed national standards. Through the development of the NTR we have been able to identify the competences required to function in the role, which are transferable across the UK and across the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. “The Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist Role NTR will benefit people affected by cancer, employers and the nurses themselves.” Skills for health divisional manager for workforce development Filao Wilson said: “Competence-based nationally transferable roles are a highly effective way of improving quality and productivity across all healthcare sectors. “Not only do they promote better care, they also support the transfer of skills between employers and make it easier for employees to demonstrate competence to prospective employers.
