Nursing plays a vital role in cancer care across various roles, from Band 3 to Band 8, including healthcare assistants, staff nurses, and an expanding array of advanced nursing positions that demonstrate strong clinical and professional leadership.
In 2021, Northern Ireland conducted a Cancer Nursing Workforce Census in collaboration with Macmillan Cancer Support. This Department of Health report utilizes a robust methodology to analyse the workforce and demographics of nurses dedicating over 50% of their clinical time to cancer care.
The scope of the census includes all nurses involved in adult cancer care at both specialist and advanced levels, including adult chemotherapy nurses, as well as those caring for teenagers and young adults and cancer support workers. The detail within the report enables a degree of benchmarking against other nations that have used similar methodologies to assess their cancer nursing workforce.
The findings help understand variations in the workforce across Northern Ireland, highlighting areas needing succession planning, skill mix profiles, and the potential for further development of specialist and advanced nursing roles alongside the necessary academic education.
Cancer Nursing Workforce Census Insights
Approximately 120 Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists support individuals living with cancer in Northern Ireland.
• Workforce Composition: Establishes a clear picture of the size, location, and structure of the cancer nursing workforce across the five Health and Social Care Trusts.
• Demographic Mapping: Provides a comprehensive map of cancer nursing roles across all age groups, including Children’s, Teenage and Young Adult, and Adult Cancer care.
• Benchmarking: Enables comparisons with similar censuses conducted in Scotland, England, and Wales, offering insights into areas for improvement.
• Strategic Insights: Supplies valuable data for nurse leaders, workforce planners, and commissioners to facilitate service review, rebuilding, and modernisation.
• Alignment with Cancer Strategy 2022: Offers an insight of cancer nursing capacity to support significant Cancer Strategy actions.
• Population Health Focus: Promotes a population health approach within nursing to enhance outcomes for all individuals affected by cancer and to transform services through the development of advanced nursing roles.
• Education and Succession Planning: Informs commissioning of education and workforce to ensure cancer nurses possess the necessary knowledge and skills.
The 2021 Cancer Nursing Workforce Census can be accessed by following the link below:
2021-census-of-the-cancer-nursing -workforce-in-ni