Developing the next generation of specialist cancer nurses.

Recent work has highlighted concerns over the future supply of the specialist cancer nursing workforce and its ability to meet the growing need for cancer care. There are few opportunities to progress into specialist nursing roles that offer support & development and there is no national or strategic framework for this. One group of acute trusts have addressed this by offering a development programme in partnership with a specialist cancer Trust. The development programme offered mentorship and learning opportunities to the participants. The programme has been evaluated using a mixed method approach, and overall has been well evaluated. is the programme is being rolled out as a practical solution to developing specialist nursing in cancer care.