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Secondary Breast Cancer Nursing toolkit

Welcome to your secondary breast cancer toolkit

This has been developed in response to the members of our Secondary Breast Cancer Nursing Group who often contact us for guidance and support around developing and improving the nursing service they offer to their patients.

Many nurses tell us that they have gained much from sharing good practice ideas and models with others specifically working with this patient group.  Practical tools can also help individuals and teams when setting up and developing services and are useful to share.  

The updated toolkit contains different sections covering a range of issues; from the case for change, developing your personal knowledge and skills and ideas to make the change to improve the care of those with secondary breast cancer. As well as a number of resources, it also includes case studies from nurses in current practice so you can see what others have achieved.

Nurse and patient

The case for change

Find out why we are campaigning to improve care for secondary (metastatic) breast cancer.

Read more

Developing your service

Two patients talking

Excellence in practice

Find out the standards of care for people living with secondary breast cancer, and how you can articulate them. 

Nurse talking to woman in breast clinic

Making the change

Find out how to demonstrate a need for change, and how to put it into practice. 

Nurse and two patients seated

Core competencies

Find out about opportunities to develop your skills and knowledge.

Guidelines

International consensus guidelines for advanced breast cancer (ABC 1)
2nd international consensus guidelines for advanced breast cancer (ABC2)
NICE clinical guidelines for advanced breast cancer 2014
NICE guidelines for advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and treatment
UK Chemotherapy Board guidance on medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw
NICE Metastatic spinal cord compression overview
Acute Oncology Initial Management Guidelines
ESMO Interactive Guidelines for Advanced Breast Cancer
ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for the diagnosis, staging and treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer 2021
3rd ESMO International Consensus Guidelines for Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC 3)
4th ESO–ESMO International Consensus Guidelines for Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC 4)
NICE clinical guidelines for advanced breast cancer 2017
NICE clinical guidelines for managing advanced breast cancer 2019
5th International consensus guidelines for advanced breast cancer (ABC 5)

Secondary, Not Second Rate reports

Current best practice
Part one: Diagnosis
Part two: Who's counting?
Manifesto for change
Part three: Support and impact
Part four: Nursing care
The Case for Change Summary Report

Breast Cancer Now resources

Holistic needs assessment checklist
Standards of care for secondary breast cancer
Current policies
Menopausal symptoms checklist
Cancer alliance service pledge
Signs and symptoms of possible disease progression
Ongoing patient involvement
Setting up patient focus groups
Patient survey template
Facebook Live - Pain control
Facebook Live - Palliative care
Facebook Live - Hair care during and after treatment
Facebook Live - Importance of information

External resources

BJN HER2-targeted therapies in breast cancer
The Christie Service Vision - creating a structured support pathway for SBC patients
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Cancer Coping Questionnaire
RCN Framework: A Competency Framework for Nurses Providing Care to People with Breast Cancer
Framework for Band 7 CNS Development
LCA metastatic breast cancer service specification
Global Status of Advanced/Metastatic Breast Cancer 2005 - 2015 Decade Report full report
Global Status of Advanced/Metastatic Breast Cancer 2005 - 2015 Decade Report: summary
RM Partners: Tips for Managing Symptoms of Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy

Nursing resources

Account of practice related visit template
Editable CNS data collection spreadsheet template
Serious Diagnosis Information Communication template
Editable Exam letter
Support Stratification Guide
Business Case Tips
Introduction to service editable template
Introduction to service - nursing support
Editable treatment and progression summary

Patient support resources

Support for secondary breast cancer
Living with Secondary Breast Cancer locations
Support for you
Other secondary breast cancer groups
Make 2nds Count 2nds Support Hub
Publications about secondary breast cancer

Talking to children

Support for telling children - Fruitfly Collective
Preparing for loss - Book list from Jigsaw South East
Facebook live - Talking with children about secondary breast cancer
Family-Centred Cancer Care: Conversations
PIP's Kit for supporting children (5-10 years old) who have a parent with incurable cancer
The Little C Club Flash Cards
‘Making Impossible Conversations Possible’ Talking to children about serious illness and death. Univ of Oxford Facebook Live
Useful animations to share with children
The Ruth Strauss Foundation - supporting families facing the loss of a parent
Marie Curie - 10 tips to help parents and carers with a life-limiting illness have conversations with their children
Support for telling children - Talking, Telling, and Sharing framework
How do I talk to my child? - guidance from Jigsaw South East
Resources for families

Useful links

ABC Global Alliance
ABC Consensus Conference
YCBN Facebook Page for women under 45
Global Trials
Building Resilience in Breast Cancer Centre (BRiC)
Working with Cancer
my tomorrows helping people access possible treatment options
Be Part of Research - National Institute for Health Research
Find a Clinical Trial - Cancer Research UK
NICE website
Apollo Specialist Nursing Resource

MDT outcome forms

Editable MDT Outcome Template
Editable Inital MDT Outcome Template

Difficult conversations

Dying to talk - discussion starter
How to begin honest conversations about what lies ahead
Serious illness conversation guide
ReSPECT
RED-MAP Guide for Hospital Professionals
Shared decision-making using DECIDE
Macmillan - Courageous Conversations - Useful words and phrases

HNA prompt sheets

Insomnia/difficulty sleeping
Physical activity
Worry and fear
Distress thermometer
Diarrhoea
Constipation
Sexual consequences for women
Breathlessness
Fatigue
Memory and concentration
Pain and pain control
Preventing weight gain
Sexual consequences for men

Intimacy and relationships

Intimacy and sexuality for cancer patients and their partners
My Viv (sexual-wellbeing brand)
Facebook Live - Sex and Intimacy
Maximising Sexual Wellbeing -Signposting sheet - Breast Cancer
EASSi Framework to guide discussions (Engagement, Assessment, Support & Signposting)
Breast Cancer Now - Your body, intimacy and sex
Macmillan Cancer Support - Cancer and your sex life
Further resources
Pleasure & Intimacy: A guide for people living with cancer by the Fruitfly Collective

Until Things Change - The Unsurvivors Campaign

Until Things Change (The Unsurvivors campaign) report

Fatigue

Facebook Live - Fatigue and secondary breast cancer
RESTORE
FACIT Fatigue Scale
Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS)

Partners

Cancer Caring Coping

Health & Wellbeing

Physical Activity Resources for Secondary Breast Cancer
Fighting Fit For Cancer - Return to Movement Programme Information
Managing Taste Changes - Buckinghamshire NHS Trust
Diet Resources for Secondary Breast Cancer
LWSBC Online programme

Our Living with Secondary Breast Cancer Online support services

We have face-to-face and online options, all facilitated by trained counsellors. To support patients to explore wellbeing, side effects, exercise – or just share what’s on their mind.

Find out more

Nursing team at Frimley Health

Case studies

Real examples of how hospitals across the UK have improved their services.

Read more
A nurse talking to a patient
The toolkit has everything you need in one place to ensure you are going in the right direction. It's really useful when teaching others too.

Sue, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Scarborough

Image of nurses talking

Join the Secondary Breast Cancer Nursing Group

Our Secondary Breast Cancer Nursing Group has been set up in response to requests from nurses working with patients affected by metastatic breast cancer.

Join now

Sharing practice

We'd love your feedback

We envision this toolkit to constantly evolve over time. Please tell us what you think and let us know your ideas for resources or content that would be useful to add to the toolkit.

Don’t forget to tell us if you adapt or change your service so we can share your experience with others. By working together we can ensure everyone affected by secondary breast cancer receives the highest standards of specialist nursing care.

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