In this episode, host Steve Bland chats to Kate Williams, the Macmillan Cancer CNS Development Lead (CDL) for North East London Cancer Alliance, and Rani Petros, a Clinical Nurse Specialist Uro Oncology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, to delve into an exciting new pilot project that aims to transform the future of cancer nursing across London. The CDL pilot project is a three-year initiative, delivered in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support and NHS England, designed to address workforce challenges by embedding a dedicated Development Lead role into each London Integrated Care System area. Kate explains why the CDL role was created — highlighting the pressing need to tackle high vacancy rates, retention issues, and limited exposure to cancer nursing during initial training — and how the pilot supports newly qualified and early-career Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) to build confidence, autonomy and leadership skills.Through a blend of one-to-one mentoring, group education sessions, and outreach activities, the CDL role also promotes the CNS career pathway and fosters a resilient, skilled workforce capable of meeting future cancer care needs.This episode is released on National Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Day, which recognises the importance of the role, raises awareness of career opportunities, and thanks all CNSs across the country for all the hard work they do.To find out more about the Macmillan CDL pilot, visit https://www.nelcanceralliance.nhs.uk/macmillan-cancer-cns-development-lead-cdl Read more about National Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist Day: https://www.nelcanceralliance.nhs.uk/news/national-cancer-clinical-nurse-specialist-day-16-march-2026#NationalCancerCNSDayLet us know what you think!Please complete our short feedback form to let us know what you think of our podcasts (it will only take five minutes to complete).

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.