Jan’s prize winning cancer project

Early in her Nursing career, Jan Harley worked in Edinburgh with Professor Patrick Forrest. Professor Forrest chaired the Department of Health’s working group, which looked at the effectiveness of Breast Cancer Screening. From these recommendations the UK National Breast Screening Programme was launched.

Now, over 20 years later, Jan will graduate from the University of Teesside with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Health Sciences (Cancer Care) and receive the David and Ros Simon Research Award for best research project in the field of cancer care. Her prize-winning project explored the experiences of local women who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

Jan, 46, from Norton, is originally from Durham City. She first thought about nursing at the age of 12, and started her nurse training five years later at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she met and married her GP husband John.

After working in a Cancer Surgery Unit, Jan and her husband moved to Rugby, and completed nurse teacher training at the University of Birmingham. They later moved to Teesside, and Jan took a career break to bring up their three sons.

In 1990 Jan started work as a Sister at North Tees Hospital, in the Altered Body Image Department, specialising in Breast and Bowel Cancer nursing. She completed an Open University degree in Health and Social Policy, achieving a First and then aimed for the three-year part-time MSc.

Jan said: “I became Senior Nurse in the Breast Care Service Unit and was encouraged to go for the MSc for professional development. I enjoyed the challenge of working at a different level and meeting new people on the course. The lecturers were supportive, there was always someone you could call or e-mail.”

Jan particularly enjoyed her prize-winning project. She looked at the experiences of 12 women who had been referred to the Breast Units at both the University Hospital of James Cook and North Tees, under the government’s two-week rule. The latter states that women referred urgently under the two-week rule must be seen in the Breast Unit within two weeks of receipt of referral.

Jan said: “In my interviews I looked at a range of experiences, such as how the women felt about the referral process, how the professionals they met throughout the process communicated with them, and how anxiety affected their personal relationships and daily lives.

“We found that patients liked to have their test results within the same day, though this is ideal for women with a benign result, but women with a cancer diagnosis are often too shocked to take everything in at that visit. The project also found that good communications are essential between patients and professionals to help allay women’s anxieties.”

The project’s findings have been forwarded to the Cancer Care Alliance. Jan added: “Improvements in referral systems are to be made, such as improving written information to patients, to begin from GP onwards, and providing further contacts and better education regarding Breast Health. My prize is a tribute to the women I interviewed, their comments made the project feasible.”

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