Role of the clinical nurse specialist in neuro-oncology: a UK review
Jillian Sokratous, Catharine James, Charlotte Robinson, Andrew P Wright, Shona Floyd, Shannon Winslade, Caroline Barry, Camille Goetz, Ros Quinlivan, Katie Bushby, Richard Gilbertson, Nicky Huskens,Background:
Clinical nurse specialists play a central role in coordinating neuro-oncology care, yet care models vary.
Aims:
To characterise variation in neuro-oncology clinical nurse specialist capacity, team composition, responsibilities and training across the UK.
Methods:
Longitudinal service data were collected from 22 UK adult neuro-oncology centres through the Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence programme (2021–2024), supplemented by patient experience data from The Brain Tumour Charity.
Findings:
Clinical nurse specialists delivered consistent core functions across all services. However, marked variation was observed in team capacity; workload ranged 18–59 new glioma patients per clinical nurse specialist as reflected in variable patient feedback. Centres also differed in mix of level of practice (7/22 centres had Band 8 nurses), sub-specialisation (5/22 had low-grade glioma nurses), access to support workers and funding for training.
Conclusions:
While central to care in all centres, clinical nurse specialist team variation is creating inequitable patient experience, highlighting the need for national standardisation.