Speakers

Lauren has been at UCLH since 2011 where she now works as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, caring for young people aged 13-24 with cancer.

Over the past 10 years Lauren has worked in both the inpatient adult haematology/BMT setting and more recently has worked closely with Teenage Cancer Trust on the teenage and young adult ambulatory care and day care unit. Here they provide inpatient treatments in an outpatient setting, promoting patient’s independence and autonomy.

Academically Lauren has achieved BNurs (hons) from University of Birmingham, MSc in Advanced Practice from King’s College London and is currently undertaking a research project looking at ways to better the end of treatment experience for this patient group.

Born and studied nursing in the Philippines
Worked in the Intensive Care Unit at Manila Doctors Hospital
Migrated to the UK in 2002 and started working at UCLH Haematology Unit
Currently the lead of Adult Ambulatory Care Unit
Independent Nurse Prescriber

Area of expertise:
Chemo registered, stem cell infusion registered, CAR T trained, venepuncture & cannulation

Dr Catherine Oakley is a Chemotherapy Nurse Consultant at Guy’s Cancer Center, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Catherine is an advocate for holistic chemotherapy nursing. She co-developed an award-winning oral chemotherapy patient diary. Her NIHR funded PhD explored why patients’ delay presenting with neutropenic sepsis. Catherine is a Past president of the UK Oncology Nursing Society. She represents nursing on the National Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group and the UK Chemotherapy Board. She worked with CRUK to develop a National cancer patient treatment record and patient film and is the lead author for the National UKONS SACT Nursing Competency Passport.

I work as a Nurse Consultant in IV therapy and Vascular Access at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. Clinically I place all vascular access devices including PICC, PORT and Tunnelled catheter. I oversee a large team of infusion and vascular access nurses who provide a unit-based day infusion service and a 7-day vascular access service including the OPAT service. I also have responsibility for organisational  clinical governance and patient safety in relation of IV therapy and Vascular access.

I am a clinical consultant for MHRA, a medical device expert for NICE. I chair the National Infusion and Vascular  Access Society (NIVAS) and am a global committee member for WoCoVA the World Congress or Vascular Access.

Qualified as a pharmacist in 2012 and undertook a 3 year rotational foundation programme at Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Started working in Haematology in 2015 - spending 2 years as Advanced Clinical Pharmacist for Bone Marrow Transplant

Became a team leader for the Pharmacy Cancer Services Team in April 2018. Oversee a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy to patients from the city of Leeds as well as the surrounding region.

I trained to be a nurse in Ireland and worked there as a staff nurse for a few years. Before moving to the UK, I spent a year in Australian on a WHV where I continued working as a nurse while travelling. I began my NHS career in the Royal Marsden by doing the rotation programme. This gave me the chance to move around the trust to experience the different specialities within this already specialised hospital. My heart set on haemato-oncology where I returned and gained further experience in nursing transplant patients and everything that comes with it, I moved from senior staff nurse to junior sister of ambin and am now Senior sister of the Bud Flanagan West unit which includes Ambin and Bud West inpatient ward.

I joined Frimley Park Hospital in 2002 as a care assistant and after completing my NVQ, foundation, and nursing degree. I find myself in my current role of vascular access and IV therapy clinical nurse specialist and education lead for this area.

I have always had a keen interest in vascular access and intravenous therapy, and was fortunate to join the vascular access team in 2013 as a vascular access practitioner. This allowed me to enhance my skills in vessel health and assessment and management of patients with complex vascular access needs.  I went on to become an infusion nurse within our busy intravenous vascular access infusion unit before taking my role as clinical nurse specialist in 2018. I am skilled in ultrasound cannulation, PICC line insertion using ECG technology, arterial line placement and assist in the re- evaluation of indwelling central vascular access devices care and maintenance for both in and outpatients. I am fortunate enough to be the support nurse for long term device placements in interventional radiology for my lead nurse consultant Andrew Barton. I have been working closely with our military infection control team to offer an experience of infection prevention control in vascular access care and maintenance for military preceptees, the aim is to inform their own practice and give them an overview of our service to provide a firm base for their future practice.

I have worked closely with my lead nurse assisting setting up a new blended IV course for newly qualified nurses so we could continue training throughout the pandemic, to maintain safe standards of practice. To ensure vessel health and preservation is a key standard of assessment and practice on admission to the hospital, I have integrated a new three-day rotation programme for emergency department doctors for ultrasound training to enhance better vessel health outcomes and improve patient experience.

I am looking forward to the future in vascular access in an ever-evolving role.