This was the first attempt to quantify the
satisfaction women had with the clinical nurse specialists and breast
screening service provided. In the West Midlands,
nurses felt that the results could be used to
demonstrate the value of the C role and where
practice differed. In particular, the results have
been used to highlight staff shortages, especially
where sufficient patient support was not provided.
For a particular nursing team, these shortages
meant that CNSs constantly had to balance the
needs of women attending through the screening
route verses the symptomatic route. The service was
able to demonstrate that the CNS establishment
in place at the time of the audit was insufficient
and was consistently failing to meet NHSBSP
guidelines in providing CNS advice and
counselling to women attending breast screening
assessment centres. Comparing data to those of
other nursing teams in the West Midlands was
useful in highlighting the need for additional CNS
capacity to the commissioning primary care trust.
Consequently, a new CNS post was established in
one of the regional NHS trusts.