Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Nurse Specialist

Job overview

The post holder will work as an integral part of the TYA team to provide young people with cancer (Haematology and Oncology) aged 16-24 years, with individualised and bespoke guidance, support and care.  The post holder will provide emotional, psychosocial and clinical support (as appropriate) from the point of diagnosis, during and after treatment.

The post holder will be able to work independently and within a small team to contribute to the facilitation of the planning, coordination, delivery and evaluation of care pathways for TYA cancer patients and their families.

The post holder will be a strong advocate for TYA patients within the Principal Treatment Centre (PTC), they will be a resource for wider hospital colleagues and will contribute to training and education within TYA Cancer care.

Main duties of the job

The candidate would ideally have experience of working with teenage and young adults with cancer.

Act as the patient’s advocate, to help negotiate the treatment journey, ensuring optimum care is provided to each young person.

• Demonstrate excellent communication skills with young people and carers ensuring that information/advice is appropriate, timely, delivered sensitively and based on individual needs.
• Work closely and compassionately with young people and their families when communicating significant and difficult/bad news.
• Acknowledge and accommodate barriers to communication and understanding, including speech, hearing, language, emotion and Learning Disabilities.
• Provide psychosocial support to young people and their families respecting their diverse cultural and ethnic background.
• Maintain patient confidentiality.
• Ensure that every young person understands how to seek guidance and knows who to turn to, so that they do not feel alone.
• Work collaboratively with young people, to understand the impact of their cancer diagnosis and treatment, to identify their individual needs and how best to meet them.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.