Elaine has been a cancer nurse for over 30 years. She trained in Liverpool in the early 80s and moved to London to work in neurology. However, a working holiday to Australia saw her placed on an oncology unit and she was hooked. She was able to gain experience in radiation oncology, medical oncology and bone marrow transplant. In addition, she was able to engage with HIV patients at the start of the pandemic and this group taught her the most about acute medicine, symptom control, end of life care and compassionate nursing.
During her time in Australia Elaine completed an oncology course and a bachelor of nursing at the University of Sydney. She held positions of clinical lecturer in the New South Wales College of Nursing and was invited to help set up a bone marrow transplant programme in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. After 10 years Elaine returned to the United Kingdom and began a role as a clinical nurse specialist in chemotherapy at University Hospital Southampton. It was here she began to study for a masters degree in nursing at Portsmouth university and on completion was appointed the senior nurse for the care group. However again Elaine missed practice and soon applied for a PhD programme at the University of Southampton which she completed in 2009. Her thesis was a fourth-generation evaluation of non-medical prescribing. Elaine was appointed consultant nurse in 2004 and held a joint appointment with the University of Southampton as a senior lecturer and academic practitioner. She then had a short spell as deputy director of the Central South Coast Cancer Network covering a leave of absence which again reinforced that practice was at her heart. Along with her colleague Alison Keen, she co-authored a book on women's cancers and has written numerous book chapters on SACT and has over 50 publications in academic journals.
Elaine had an opportunity to study an MSC in healthcare leadership through the NHS leadership Academy which she completed in 2017. Her dissertation is called 'board to bedside - looking at how senior managers hear the patient voice'.Elaine was successful in a large grant to establish an acute oncology service at the hospital and contributed to the development of advanced nurse practitioner trainee programme. Elaine was an elected board member of UKONS and currently sits on the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care committee. Furthermore, Elaine has recently developed an online train the trainer programme for nurses on biosimilars which is in the process of being translated into 6 languages. In addition, she is a founding member of the United Kingdom Association of Supportive Cancer Care- UKASCC.
Elaine represented Wessex on the NHS England chemotherapy reference group and was a frequent peer reviewer of services. This continues by personal request. Elaine was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship in 2017 to examine the use of the ipsilateral arm for chemotherapy in breast cancer. Elaine has recently moved to the Royal Marsden Hospital as a consultant nurse and continues to spend time in practice. Her main interests are supportive care, safe practice and education
A review
Cancer Care Nursing / Treatment
Current SACT Treatment Options
A review