Meet the BAHNON Council

Contact your local council member …

Jo Greedy

Secretariat

Base: Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton
Email: joanne.greedy@somersetft.nhs.uk

Base: Taunton and Somerset Foundation Trust, Musgrove Park Hospital. Taunton.

BAHNON Representative Jo, began her nursing career in 1994 within ent/ head and neck occupying a junior sister role for a few years before moving on to develop the first head and neck clinical nurse specialist role for Somerset in 2002. During this time, she has worked with patients through a trajectory of treatments including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapies and holds a joint MDT lead role with her lead clinician. In addition, she retains an occasional lecturer post with the University of West of England (UWE) delivering the post graduate head and neck cancer module coordinating a range of clinicians working within this field.

Jo has been an active member of South West Bahnon since 2002 and amalgamated her involvement and commitment to national level by joining Bahnon in 2016. This has enabled her to build and strengthen her service through networking, study and sharing good practice improving service delivery for those in her care. Jo has been vice chair for Bahnon for the last year and takes up the role of chair from Marie Smith in March 2020.

I ‘invited’ myself along to the South West regional BAHNON group meetings and spent time with individual CNS’s until a post came up at Taunton.

Since its development in 2002 there have been some major changes to our service providing cover at 1.6 wte and I now joint lead the MDT with one of our Consultants. I am an occasional lecturer with the University of West of England (UWE) on the head and neck cancer module and am treasurer for the South West BAHNON group, which I have done for many years.

I joined the national committee in the summer 2016 so am a new face on the block. BAHNON has helped me build and continue building my service through networking, study and sharing good practice. I hope to continue this in my committee member role at national level.

Maria Smith

Council member

Base: CNS, Royal Alexandra Hospital/Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Email: maria.smith2@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

I have been a Macmillan Head & Neck Cancer CNS working within NHS Greater and Glasgow & Clyde for the past 19 years. Since developing this role within the Clyde area I have gained extensive experience in supporting Head & Neck Cancer patients throughout their disease trajectory. More recently, I have helped develop on-line Head & Neck Cancer teaching modules, which are now available on the LearnPro platform.

She is also actively involved in developing and updating Head & Neck cancer related policies, guidelines and patient information which keeps her focused on improving patient care.

She has been an active member of the BAHNON Committee since December 2013 and took up the position as Chair in February 2020. As part of this role I represent BAHNON as representative on the BAHNO committee. This challenging role has allowed her to network further afield sharing good practice as well as continuing to provide the best level of service for this patient group.

Andrea Nelson

Conference Secretary

Base: Lead Nurse, Northwick Park Hospital
Email: andrea.nelson@nhs.net

I have worked at Northwick Park hospital in surgery since 1992, across all levels of the nursing establishment. I joined the Macmillan team as an oncology CNS in 2001 and then in 2004 became the first head and neck CNS. I have recently been promoted in to the lead nurse role for head and neck. I have an excellent understanding and insight in to the patient’s pathway and support patients from the point of diagnosis.

My previous management and leadership experience as a ward manger of a head and neck and urology surgical unit and out-patients’, together with the team leader experience that I gained as a CNS has been invaluable. It has provided me with the skills, practical experience and confidence to take on this role. I have managed staff at all levels and led an extremely dynamic and challenging unit. I also believe that my experience would allow me to support and contribute to the committee.

I have personal experience of Peer Review following an invitation to perform an external peer review of the head and neck cancer services in Doha (Qatar). The review took place in February 2015 and was part of the National Program of Cancer Peer Review. This valuable experience provided me with an insight and experience in the process as a reviewer. I have also had participation in local peer review process

I am currently contributing to the London Cancer Alliance (LCA) Head and Neck Nursing project. Focusing on head and neck specialist nursing, it will explore complex work loads and identify resources required to deliver high quality, efficient care.

I am a very experienced, confident and dedicated surgical head and neck CNS with a wealth of experience and knowledge who is working in a Regional Head and Neck unit. I value the opportunity of being part of the committee and feel strongly that I contribute well to this group.

Jo Langridge

Council member

I do find Head and Neck patients both challenging and rewarding. I particularly enjoy supporting patients from diagnosis through their treatment pathway and beyond. As a team we are quite proactive in implementing the Recovery package and provide a well evaluated post treatment workshop for our patients. Over the last 18 months, I have been focusing on skin care during radiotherapy and have managed to change our practice from historically used dressings to research based ones. I have also rewritten the skin care guidelines for the cancer centre. I have published my evaluation in the oncology section of the BJN and presented this work internationally in wound care conferences.

I became a Bahnon Committee member almost 4 years ago and I have now been chair for the last 14 months. I joined the committee as I believe in what Bahonn stands for. We all work in pressured, busy environments and I believe as a national committee we put forward the voice of our speciality.

Amanda Naylor

Website and Social Media Secretary

Base: Macmillan Head & Neck Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Milton Keynes University Hospital
Email: amanda.naylor@mkuh.nhs.uk

I qualified as a registered nurse in 2006 and worked as a staff nurse on the head and neck ward at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and found that I really enjoyed caring for the tracheostomy and laryngectomy patients, as well as supporting the recovery of all patients undergoing major head and neck resections.

In 2009, with the centralisation of head and neck surgery to Luton, a Band 6 Head and Neck Support Nurse became available. I jumped at this opportunity to specialise and have never looked back.

In 2016, I started working at Milton Keynes University Hospital as a Band 7 Head and Neck Advanced Nurse Practitioner and set up the head and neck nursing service there, establishing essential MDT links to care and support for our complex client group across different treatment centres. My role involves supporting patients and their families from the point of cancer diagnosis, assisting them with treatment decisions and acting as the patient’s key worker liaising with Northampton General Hospital where our oncology and major surgery treatments is carried out.

At Milton Keynes Hospital I have become a champion for the implementation of EHNA and have set up my own HNA clinic. I work as part of the tracheostomy MDT and facilitate tracheostomy study days regularly throughout the year. I am trained in changing laryngectomy patient’s surgical voice prosthesis and am able to support the speech therapists with this service.

In 2017 I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Curtis, a head and neck cancer patient who set up The Swallows Head and Neck Cancer Support Group in Blackpool. Together we set up the 1^st local branch group of the Swallows in Milton Keynes, offering support to patients in the Milton Keynes, Northampton and Bedford areas.

At the end of 2019 I started running a nurse led thyroid clinic with the support of one of our consultants. I have approximately 50 + thyroid patients on my caseload all over 5 years post treatment. This service works well as it provides that middle ground between consultant follow up and discharge to the GP.

This year I was invited to join the BAHNON committee. I look forward to working alongside my experience colleagues. As part of my role I am working on setting up links with our International Head and Neck Nurse colleagues. We will then be able to network and share our knowledge and experience around the world.

Andrew Fishburn

Council member and Assistant Conference Secretary

Base: Macmillan Nurse Consultant, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Preston Hospital

Email: andrew.fishburn@lthtr.nhs.uk

Andrew Fishburn – Macmillan Nurse Consultant in Head & Neck. RN, NMP, MSc, Post Grad Dip

Andrew has worked through his entire nursing career in Head & Neck cancer since qualifying as a Registered Nurse in 1994. Andrew joined Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in 1998 and has developed the Head and Neck nursing service in the Trust to include many nurse-led / multidisciplinary services such as the Thyroid Cancer Follow-up clinic, Head & Neck Pre & Post Treatment clinics, Oncology On-treatment Review Clinics, Head & Neck Oncology Follow-Up Clinics, Specialist Tracheostomy MDT, and prosthetic speech valve clinics.

Andrew has worked extensively at local, regional and national level, including co-authoring the nursing data-set for the national head and neck oncology database (DaHNO). Andrew has also served as Vice-Chair and then Chair of the British Association of Head & Neck Oncology Nurses (BAHNON). Andrew has presented papers at many local, national and international conferences. He teaches regularly at the University of Salford on the pre-registration nursing degree.

Andrew has a particular interest in quality of life for head and neck cancer patients and undertook his MSc dissertation in quality of life in the laryngectomy patient. In March 2021 Andrew had his first peer-reviewed publication in the British Journal of Nursing regarding quality of patient experience in the nurse led Thyroid Cancer Follow-up Clinic. He has also contributed to other journals and the Oxford Handbook of Oncology Nursing.

Along with John de Carpentier, Consultant ENT Surgeon, Andrew established the Rapid Access Neck Lump Clinic at Preston which was the first in the country to have nurses performing Fine Needle Aspiration for Cytology on neck lumps, and with which they jointly won the Trust’s Quality Award.

In November 2020 Andrew commenced in the Macmillan Nurse Consultant in Head & Neck post – believed to be the first head and neck nurse consultant in the country. He leads a team of Macmillan Nurse Specialists in Head & Neck and a Head & Neck Cancer Support Worker.

Andrew believes in a healthy work/life balance and in his spare time he enjoys a busy family life, photography, and unaccompanied sacred music from the Renaissance.

My main areas of patient focus within my current role are supporting the patient and their family through their treatment and to help them manage the short and long term side effects that are caused by the treatment.

The best parts of my role are working collaboratively with the wider MDT team and supporting patients through some of the most life changing treatment on offer.

My specialist role also involves teaching at undergraduate and graduate level. I am involved in Research and Audit within the MDT.

I have been a member of BAHNON since it begun and have been a committee member for the last 4 years. I enjoy my role on the committee as it allows me to influence how Head and Neck cancer is viewed within the NHS, to support other nurses and AHP’s in the Head and Neck field and to network with my colleagues across the UK.

Qualifications:
– MSc Advanced Clinical Practice
– BSc Nursing
– Advanced Communication Skills
– Non-medical Prescriber
– Counseling Skills
– ENB 998, 237

Robyn Payne

Treasurer and joint website secretary

Base: CNS, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Email: robyn.payne1@nhs.net

I have been working as a Head and Neck clinical Nurse Specialist since 2019, developing a service for patients with advanced, metastatic and incurable Head, Neck & Thyroid Cancer within Sussex. My experience across multiple sectors in nursing and the NHS alongside my passion for case management, physical assessment, research and psychology allow me to support patients with their complex and varied needs at such a difficult time- supporting them and their loved ones to achieve the best quality of life possible.

I am a non-medical prescriber and run 2 nurse led clinics to monitor and support patients on systemic anti-cancer treatments and surveillance pathways.

Winning the Macmillan Quality Improvement award in 2021, for developing these services and clinics, is something I am hugely proud of. Supporting those living with and beyond cancer is an area of nursing I have long had a passion.

I worked as a District Nurse/ Clinical Nurse Lead, from 2014-2021 and led 3 teams of community nurses to provide excellent care, as well as deliver it myself. I found this a huge privilege and enjoyed leading my teams immensely.

I also worked closely with the Cancer Service’s Commissioning Manager as a Macmillan Primary Care Nurse to facilitate the implementation of the recovery package within Brighton and Hove, from 2017-2019. I relished the opportunity to educate up- skill and promote the local Primary Care teams to influence and improve Nursing and Cancer care at a political level.