Sandie's story
About Sandie
Sandie Jones is lead Prostate Cancer Advanced Nurse Practitioner, at Wrexham Maelor Hospital in Wales. Sandie won the Prostate Cancer UK People’s Choice Award 2018, for her outstanding commitment to prostate cancer patients throughout her 20-year career.
When Sandie started she set up the first follow up clinic run by nurses, to provide the care men needed and was the only nurse in Wales to perform prostate biopsies, so her patients could be seen by her throughout their treatment.
Sandie is a highly experienced, dedicated nurse, but like many long-standing nurses, she is coming up to retirement, putting increasing pressure on an already under-resourced workforce. Sandie tells us how her team run their service and the challenges they face in managing the care of men with prostate cancer.
There is a lack of nursing care for patients with prostate cancer, not just at Wrexham Maelor, but across the UK.
The situation
Sandie's team consists of:
- two band 8as, one Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and one Advanced Nurse Practioner (ANP)
- two band 7 nurse practitioners (NP)
- one band 6 junior nurse practitioner
- one Macmillan assistant practitioner.
Sandie said “The work I do as a clinical practitioner leaves me with little time for other important parts of patient care. I get some assistance from a support worker, however they’re limited in what they can do. This support should be from a CNS, however our team doesn’t have the resource currently.
“Just two of us directly working with prostate cancer patients, me and one of the band 7s NPs, who I’m training to take over from me when I retire. It’s so important we plan ahead, so the service we deliver to men can support the increase in prostate cancer cases.
“Like many trusts, alongside treating and supporting men with prostate cancer, our team have to balance their time alongside treating other cancer patients.
“Other nurses do see some prostate cancer patients in their clinics for follow-up, as me and the other CNS don’t have the capacity to solely see all our patients. To provide the best care for men, we need more ANPs, CNSs and assistant practitioners.
“Prostate cancer patients needs to be overseen by one person as the main point of contact to decide what other specialities the patient needs to be seen by, so we can deliver the best care for them.”
