Nurse-Led Oncology Unit Portiuncula University Hospital

Portiuncula University Hospital has a long established Nurse-led Oncology Unit which is a satellite service of University Hospital Galway. The team there provide a multi-disciplinary approach to care and has a number of visiting Medical Oncologists including Dr. Silvie Blazkova and Prof Maccon Keane and the visiting Radiation Oncologist is Dr. Nazir Ibrahim.

The service includes coordinating, preparing and managing the weekly oncology clinics, education sessions for patients prior to commencing chemotherapy, organising treatments, assessment of patients pre and post chemotherapy, administration of chemotherapy and/or cancer related treatments and psychological care of patients and their families. The inpatient service includes visiting newly diagnosed patients and overseeing the care of oncology patients admitted with complications.

The Oncology Unit is a resource for all PUH staff and provides information and support on cancer. The unit also facilitates clinical placements for Public Health Nurses undertaking the Community Oncology course.

2,294 patients were treated in the Oncology day unit in 2015. Approximately 621 patients attended medical oncology clinics at the hospital over a nine month period in 2015/2016 and 120 patients attended radiotherapy clinics over a six month period in 2015/2016.

Caitriona Duggan has  recently completed her Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Practice from NUI Galway and is now a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner with NMBI. Caitriona was appointed to her position as  Advanced Nurse Practitioner in May 2016 and commenced outpatient oncology review clinics which has resulted in the elimination of waiting lists for this service.  In the future Caitriona would like to deliver oral chemotherapy and targeted therapy clinics and survivorship clinics. This would greatly enhance the service for this particular group of patients and allow for extra capacity in the acute oncology day unit.

As an exclusively nurse-led unit, the team is highly committed to ensuring that they are aware of the most up to date research. They undertake monthly journal clubs, regularly attend and present at national and local conferences and are regularly involved in audits and research. Currently in conjunction with Dr Silvie Blazkova the team is carrying out research on the survival statistics for metastatic colorectal patients over a five year period in the Oncology Department, Portiuncula University Hospital.

Photo L:R - Staff Nurse, Anne Madden-Finnegan; Unit Manager, Sally o Connor, Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) Vicki Costello and Deidre Hanley,  Staff Nurse, Ailish O Leary and Advanced Nurse Practioner (ANP) Caitriona Duggan.