Scholarship Award Helps Specialist Nurse Attend International Cancer Conference

In May 2024, nurse Tracey Cole was awarded a Stewart Baines Coltart Scholarship Award from the Barts League of Nurses. This enabled her to present an E-poster and attend the Multinational Association of Supportive Cancer Care Conference in Lille in June 2024. Tracey sent us this report.

The MASCC Annual Meeting is the foremost international and interdisciplinary conference on supportive cancer care covering the entire spectrum of problems experienced by patients as a result of their cancer and cancer treatment.

A main theme of the meeting this year was to ‘Empower People Impacted by Cancer’, including sections dedicated to:
• Innovative Implementation of Supportive Care in Cancer
• Quality Improvement in Supportive Care
The Transforming Cancer Services Team (TCST), London, Primary Care Community of Practice (CoP), instigated in 2023, consists of a group of nurses, Allied Health Professionals and patient partners; the aim of it being to improve the quality of patient care as the London National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES) results reveal that patients/ carers experience poor communication and care across the contexts between Tertiary, Secondary and Primary Care Services.

Thanks to this award, I was able to show case the work of the CoP as our abstract was accepted for the development and presentation of an e-poster (along with the TCST London lead nurse) fostering significant interest from international interdisciplinary professionals.

Attending the conference also enabled me to learn more about the latest evidence on symptom control of those patients on treatment and those who are receiving palliative care. In my role as an Enhanced Supportive Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, networking with colleagues who have similar passion and experience was invaluable, particularly in assisting in ascertaining innovative ways of delivering care within the NHS that is resource-limited. This is one of the first international conferences I have been to, and it was humbling to hear of efforts to try and address cancer patient care improvements in India, for example.

It also facilitated personal development in delivering a presentation in a succinct manner ensuring that key audit results and impact of our work was delivered in an effective (albeit 5-minute time limited) way. I met people whom I worked with in cancer care 22 years ago and was lovely to catch up with what they are doing now.

It also encouraged Sandra and I to ‘keep going’ with the CoP as we gained significant interest in this model of learning and Quality Improvement from areas such as Canada and the USA. We are also planning to feedback to the MASCC board that true supportive care should be more interdisciplinary and increase the voice of experienced cancer nurses at this conference in the coming years.

Thank you again for this opportunity,