In this article... ● How an initiative at North Devon District Hospital led to better support for cancer patients ● The benefits of introducing nurse-led assessment of ambulatory patients ● How to go about creating a seven-day service

The national AO education group are looking to gather some information on preferred topics of education to help focus future work within the group and across the wider AO community. We'd like to hear from you about your top 5 educational topics but to ensure we're tailoring the education to best meet the needs of different staff groups we'd also like to gather some additional information about the setting and role you work in and your level of practice.

The UKAOS is developing a 5 Year Strategy to guide the development and progression of the Society and ensure that we continue to be the national voice for Acute Oncology within the UK. We would like our membership to be involved in our strategy and planning for the future. Please do have look at the draft document and if possible complete our short survey, we will review all responses and act upon suggestions. Help us shape our society.

We are pleased and proud to announce that UKAOS Board Member Alison Taylor has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship. Alison is an acute oncology and cancer of unknown primary (CUP) nurse consultant. Her project will be to research the psychological and emotional support for people with a cancer of unknown primary (CUP) with the aim to improve the quality care for people with CUP. She will visit Australia and liaise with teams in the Netherlands and the USA remotely to exchange ideas and build an understanding about CUP care and process internationally.

Acute Oncology services were launched in 2009 and we will be celebrating 15 years of Acute Oncology at our conference on the 27th of September. UKAOS will also be launching the Acute Oncology Week at our conference Acute Oncology Week 7th to 11th of October, we hope that this will be an annual event that will highlight the fantastic work of our acute oncology services nationwide.

Dr Caroline Wilson PhD FRCP Medical Oncology Consultant reflects on her role and asks if it is now the right time for an acute oncology predominant job plan for oncologists? Caroline is a UKAOS Trustee and Board Member and has worked hard to develop and promote Acute Oncology Services for the last 10 years. Caroline describes Acute Oncology as a side helping to her site specific role as a breast oncologist , but is it now time to for Acute Oncology to be recognised as predominant interest in the oncologist job plan?

UKAOS has an active Data Quality Management Group who are very keen to share information about data collection for acute oncology services across the UK.

This is a very exciting PhD opportunity to explore the acute oncology pathway to improve support for patients. This novel PhD aims to understand what it is like to experience the acute oncology pathway, for patients, acute oncology staff and other Health Care Professionals (HCPs) who interact with acute oncology patients,  identifying unmet patient needs, understanding Health Care Professionals views and experiences of service delivery, and exploring where improvements could be made. This is an incredibly exciting and important area of research, and would be suited a researcher with experience of cancer, health care or health services research or a health care professional with research experience

UKAOS is pleased to announce their Annual Conference will be held as a face-to-face meeting in Birmingham on Friday 27th September 2024. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Transforming Acute Oncology - Everyone’s Business’.

The UK Sepsis Trust are leading a project with 52 North Health, focused on the assessment and prioritisation of patients at risk of neutropenic sepsis. As a member of our organisation, you have been identified as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in this field and are invited to participate in the project.