Quality standard
Quality statement 1: Clinical nurse specialist
Quality statement 1: Clinical nurse specialist
Quality statement
Adults with oesophago-gastric cancer have access to an oesophago-gastric clinical nurse specialist.
Rationale
Adults with oesophago-gastric cancer need information and support to help them adapt to physical changes and reduced quality of life. A clinical nurse specialist in oesophago-gastric cancer can provide consistent and tailored information throughout care, potentially reducing the impact of these changes.
Quality measures
The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.
Structure
Evidence of the availability of clinical nurse specialists who specialise in the care and support of adults with oesophago-gastric cancer.
Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from workforce plans or staff rotas.
Process
Proportion of adults with oesophago-gastric cancer who have contact details for an oesophago-gastric clinical nurse specialist.
Numerator – the number in the denominator who have contact details for an oesophago-gastric clinical nurse specialist.
Denominator – the number of adults with oesophago-gastric cancer.
Data source: Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example, from records of contact details, such as name and telephone number, being given for clinical nurse specialists in patient records.
Outcome
a) Patient satisfaction with the availability of a clinical nurse specialist, reported by adults with oesophago-gastric cancer.
Data source: The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey contains the following questions: Did you have a main contact person within the team looking after you, such as a clinical nurse specialist, who would support you through your treatment, and How easy has it been to contact your main contact person?
b) Patient satisfaction with information provided by the clinical nurse specialist, reported by adults with oesophago-gastric cancer.
Data source: The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey contains the following question: Overall, how helpful was the advice you received from your main contact person?
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers (secondary and tertiary care centres) ensure that they have the capacity and expertise for adults with oesophago-gastric cancer to have access to a clinical nurse specialist at all stages of their care.
Healthcare professionals (members of oesophago-gastric cancer multidisciplinary teams) ensure that adults with oesophago-gastric cancer have access to a clinical nurse specialist. The clinical nurse specialist should provide support and consistent information for adults with oesophago-gastric cancer, as well as details of how to contact them in the future. This means that people have support at all stages of their care.
Commissioners ensure that they commission services that can provide clinical nurse specialists with expertise in oesophago-gastric cancer to support all adults with oesophago-gastric cancer throughout all stages of care.
Adults with oesophago-gastric cancer are able to contact a clinical nurse specialist (a nurse experienced in treating oesophago-gastric cancer) who can provide information, advice and support throughout their care.
Source guidance
Oesophago-gastric cancer: assessment and management in adults. NICE guideline NG83 (2018, updated 2023), recommendation 1.1.1
Equality and diversity considerations
People should be provided with information that they can easily read and understand themselves, or with support, so they can communicate effectively with health and social care services. Information should be in a format that suits their needs and preferences. It should be accessible to people who do not speak or read English, and it should be culturally appropriate and age appropriate. People should have access to an interpreter or advocate if needed.
For people with additional needs related to a disability, impairment or sensory loss, information should be provided as set out in NHS England's Accessible Information Standard.