Learn about our Virtual Clinical Nurse Specialists

Innovation is one of the key goals in Farleigh Hospice’s Strategic Plan. By working creatively, we make the best use of our resources to meet the changing needs of the mid Essex community that we support. During the pandemic, we were faced with unprecedented challenges that inspired us to develop innovative ways to deliver the best care for our patients, including our award-winning Virtual Ward care within the home. Another challenge that has needed an innovative solution is the recruitment of new Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) to our Care Team.

Innovative solutions to local skills gaps

Clinical Nurse Specialists provide expert symptom control support alongside specialist holistic care for those with complex palliative care needs in the mid Essex area. We advertised the positions locally but could not find enough applicants with the right skills and experience to fill all of the roles – so we needed to try a different approach.

During the pandemic response, some CNS had worked remotely, but were still able to support the clinical team, which produced the idea of creating a ‘Virtual’ CNS role. We have all become used to talking to our local doctor over the phone and sometimes online. By applying that approach to our hospice care, appointments that do not require face-to-face contact could be carried out virtually by a CNS working anywhere in the UK.

The role of the Virtual CNS

We advertised these new Virtual CNS roles nationally and successfully recruited seven suitably qualified and highly-experienced applicants from as far away as Wales, Leeds and Luton. Our Virtual CNS carry out all aspects of the CNS role except for face-to-face visits, including answering the advice line, patient follow-up calls and urgent referrals for symptom management by telephone or video.

Each Virtual CNS has gone through our full induction programme. They are allocated to a regional team - so north, central and south teams each have additional Virtual CNS hours. We also recruited to bank roles to provide additional cover. They all attend our daily team meetings online and are in constant contact with their Essex-based colleagues.

Impact on patient care

The Virtual CNS have had a huge impact on our care and support services. Over the first six months of the one-year pilot, referrals have increased by over 50%, and caseload numbers by over 25%. The appointment of Virtual CNS to support the workforce has allowed us to almost double (6,677 from 3,206) our telephone support and to manage the increase in referrals and caseloads.

Meeting future needs

The national recruitment of our Virtual CNS has given Farleigh Hospice access to a wider pool of talent. They have brought a real richness of experience and expertise to our care teams which has proved to be of benefit of our patients. As part of our Strategic Plan to invest in the growth and development of our hospice, we have an ongoing CNS training programme as we seek to build a sustainable, expert workforce to support those who require our services. This will help to ensure that Farleigh has the local skills we need to deliver excellent care and support to our patients and their families in the future, with Virtual CNS as a valuable project to continue to fill vacancies.