Quality standard

Quality statement 5: Skin cancer clinical nurse specialist

Quality statement 5: Skin cancer clinical nurse specialist

Quality statement

People with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma have access to a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist.

Rationale

Skin cancer clinical nurse specialists can provide specialist guidance and support at all stages of care and treatment, including follow‑up. They can act as a source of information (including about local support groups), psychological support and palliative care if needed. People with other forms of skin cancer may also need support from a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist, depending on their individual needs and the impact of their disease.

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 local arrangements and clinical protocols to ensure that skin cancer clinical nurse specialists are available for people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by provider organisations, for example from workforce plans.

Process

Proportion of people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma who have a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist.

Numerator – number in the denominator who have a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist.

Denominator – number of people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma.

Data source: National Cancer Patient Experience Survey and the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset.

Outcome

a) Quality of life among people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma.

Data source: National Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

b) Satisfaction with support received from skin cancer clinical nurse specialist, reported by people with skin cancer.

Data source: National Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (secondary and tertiary care) ensure that skin cancer multidisciplinary teams have a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist to support people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma under their care.

Healthcare professionals (members of local hospital skin cancer multidisciplinary teams or specialist skin cancer multidisciplinary teams) ensure that people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma have access to a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist.

Commissioners (NHS England and integrated care systems) ensure that there are enough skin cancer clinical nurse specialists to support all people with malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma.

People with a type of skin cancer called malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma have a skin cancer nurse specialist who can provide information, advice and support.

Source guidance