Meet the nursing team

“I love that I can be a frightened young person but still be treated like an adult and make decisions about my care.” Heather, 17, bone cancer

Teenage Cancer Trust funds a growing specialist team of professionals who work in our units, supporting young people across the UK.

Nurse Consultants

They are world experts in teenage and young adult cancer care and act in an advisory role to Teenage Cancer Trust, as well as mentoring our Lead Nurses.

They spend roughly half of their time overseeing the care of young people. The rest of their time they are supporting the ongoing development of units, research, professional education and taking a primary role in enhancing standards for teenage cancer care throughout the UK.

Lead Nurses

Responsible for developing and providing excellent clinical care for young people with cancer and their families throughout their cancer journey.

In addition to their clinical work, they represent young people on a local and national level, providing expertise to planning groups for cancer services. They also play a key role in making sure care is joined up across different services.

Clinical Nurse Specialists

Clinical experts in nursing practice within the specialty of teenage and young adult cancer and different types of cancer.

They provide direct care to young people including mapping out care plans and making sure patients with complex needs get the right support. They also provide guidance and support to others looking after young people with cancer.

Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Consultants

Sue Morgan MBE

Sue worked in the field of Paediatric Oncology for 15 years in Cardiff and Surrey, eventually settling at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds. In 1998 she got the post of Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist for Teenager and Young Adults (TYA). In 2008, she became a Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Consultant, a title she is very proud to carry. Sue has led a team in Leeds which has developed the Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Service and delivers holistic, supportive care to young people within the Yorkshire region.

She is the founder of the Teenage Cancer Trust Multidisciplinary Forum, and has chaired it for the last 10 years. This group are the very proud parents of Find Your Sense of Tumour (FYSOT) – the highly successful, Teenage Cancer Trust sponsored, yearly conference for young people.

In 2007, Sue was awarded an MBE for her contribution to nursing.

Louise Soanes (MSc, BSc)

Louise is the Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Consultant for Adolescents and Young Adults at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Louise is a qualified RGN/ RSCN with 20 years experience of working with teenagers and children with cancers in acute Trusts in London. She was also a senior Lecturer at South Bank University.

Having compeleted her BSc and MSc, she is now in the second year of a Professional Doctorate. Louise is very pleased to be working with Teenage Cancer Trust and is looking forward to a lot of exciting work ahead.

Teenage Cancer Trust Lead Nurses & Clinical Nurse Specialists

Nicky Pettitt (BA hons, RGN)

After completing her training in Oxford and working in the John Radcliffe Hospital for 18 months, Nicky realised that her career lay in cancer care. Returning home to the Midlands, Nicky accepted a post on the main adult oncology ward at the University Hospital Birmingham.

In 2002 Nicky became Sister on the Young Persons Unit and started to raise the profile of the unit within the Trust, promoting the unique needs of this group of patients and developing the nursing team to meet these needs. During this time, Nicky played an active role in the Teenage Cancer Trust Multi-disciplinary forum, and is now the vice chair.

As the Teenage Cancer Trust Lead Nurse for the unit, Nicky is excited about the opportunity of taking the service out to patients whose care does not admit them to the Young Persons Unit, and developing an enthusiastic multi disciplinary team to ensure all teenagers and young adults within the Trust have access to age appropriate services. The unit moves into the new hospital in 2010, and Nicky has played a key role in the design and layout of the new, larger ward.

Completing the online PGC through Coventry University in 2008 has provided amazing international links and created additional sources for information and advice for developing this new role for University Hospital Birmingham.

Nicky welcomes the challenge of the new role, service and ward, confident that the inspirational group of teenagers and young adults she works with will benefit from all the hard work.

Jan Siddall (MAed; BA (Hons) RGN, SCM, NDN)

Jan has worked for the NHS for 32 years as a qualified nurse; she initially trained in Blackpool and then went on to train as a Midwife in Manchester. On moving to London she did her Oncology training at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Fulham and Surrey and worked on the head and neck unit at the Royal Marsden in Fulham for a short while.

In 1983 she became a District Nursing Sister in Sheffield and developed an interest in palliative care, becoming a Community Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist in Barnsley. In 2001 she joined Sheffield Teaching Hospital and became Palliative care nurse specialist at the Weston Park Cancer Centre there she became much more involved in caring for teenagers and young adults with cancer. The Teenage Cancer unit opened in 2002 and Jan has been involved with their patients palliative care needs since then, including caring for patients in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital haematology ward which also has allocated teenager and young adult beds.

As a newly appointed Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Lead for teenagers and young adults Jan will be involved in implementing the TYA Improving Outcome Guidelines (IOG) at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Children’s Hospital which make up the Principal Treatment Centre for this region. The regional part of her role also includes planning, implementing and coordinating services for this group of patients in parts of Yorkshire, Humberside and the North Trent region.

Having previously worked with Macmillan Cancer Support, Jan is now looking forward to forging links with the Teenager Cancer Trust and the good work they do.

She aims to use her significant experience in nursing and cancer care to lead a dedicated team of multi professional staff. Her desire is to provide a high quality of care to teenagers and young adults, and support their carers in the region, and work closely with other providers.

David Wright

David is Teenage Cancer Trust's Lead Nurse for Teenagers and Young Adults for the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network.

He has been in post since mid June 2009 with the aim of ensuring that the Improving Outcomes Guidance for Teenagers and Young Adults is implemented for the cancer network.

He is based at Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and will be linking with all the hospitals in the network. David originally graduated with a geography degree in 1995, completing his nurse training in 1999 and immediately commenced work in oncology at the Christie Hospital in Manchester.

David worked on an adult leukaemia and transplant unit for over three years and then worked for over six and a half years on a teenage and young adult unit. The last three years on the unit were as ward manager. David says that his nursing career has been ‘thoroughly enjoyable’ but feels he is most at home working with Teenagers and Young Adults.

David has been involved with Teenage Cancer Trust for many years, taking groups to Find Your Sense of Tumour and is involved with the Multi Disciplinary Forum and especially with TYAC, as its treasurer.

David is currently studying towards his nursing degree and should complete this in the middle of 2010.

Vicki Lockey (RN, BSc hons, BA hons)

Vicki trained in Newcastle and started her nursing career in Cardiothoracic nursing in 1993. After developing more of an interest in the Thoracic side of nursing she moved to the Regional Cancer Treatment Centre after 18 months and worked on an adult in-patient oncology ward.

Vicki took a break and travelled whilst nursing, in Hong Kong for 3 months and then Australia for 12 months, working in a hospice, haematology and oncology or very interestingly, in patient’s homes in Hong Kong. This was a great experience both working in different environments and seeing a bit more of the world!

After returning to the same ward she left, Vicki then took a role working for Macmillan as an Information Centre Manager, setting up a new service, recruiting and working with a team of volunteers.

Once this service was running efficiently and proving a great benefit to patients, carers and families, Vicki returned to the clinical setting to become a Ward Sister. She worked for approximately four years on an adult in-patient oncology ward where she took a particular interest in the young adults receiving treatment on the ward.

In August 2009 Vicki was appointed as the Teenage Cancer Trust Clinical Nurse Specialist for Teenagers and Young Adults in Newcastle upon Tyne and the North East.

Vicki has embraced her new role and whilst it is a total change and a challenge she in enjoying working with Teenagers and Young Adults with cancer and looks forward to what the future will bring.

Lorraine Beddard

Lorraine qualified as a children’s nurse 5 years ago and has worked in haematology/oncology at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since then. She then studied a teenage and young adult degree module at Leeds University and was promoted to junior sister in August 2008 with an interest in teenagers and to oversee the opening of the new Teenage Cancer Trust unit. Her role was also to liaise within the teenage and young adult cancer network nationally attending meetings on behalf of the service.

Lorraine has attended and been involved with Find Your Sense of Tumour on the steering committee for 18months and has attended the last two Teenage Cancer Trust International Conferences. She works closely with the University Hospital Birmingham (Queen Elizabeth) staff, attending weekly multi-disciplinary team meetings. Since the new Teenage Cancer Trust unit opened, Lorraine has been the unit deputy manager and specialist nurse for teenagers and young adults with cancer. She hopes to continue to improve the service and patient experience for all teenagers diagnosed at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The future vision for Lorraine’s role is to be a key worker for teenage haematology/oncology patients as they go through their cancer journey. Lorraine remains an advocate for teenagers and will ensure they are nursed in an appropriate environment with their peers, with access to age appropriate stimulation/activities and will continue to act as a role model to staff working within the unit and educate regarding teenage and young adult care.

Louise Hooker (MSc, RCN, RSCN)

Louise is the Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Lead Nurse for the Teenage and Young Adult service at University of Southampton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, providing services for young people living in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Dorset, the Channel Islands, South Wiltshire, and West Sussex. Louise is RGN and RSCN with an MSc in Heath promotion/health education. She has many years of experience of working with children and young people with cancer, and has also worked in adult services as Lead Nurse for Southampton Cancer Centre. She has also worked as a research nurse and as a lecturer in child and adolescent cancer nursing. She has been leading the Southampton TYA service since 2008. From 2007-2012 Louise worked for the National Cancer Action Team to help the NHS develop better services for children and young people with cancer across England. She is currently studying for an MSc in Clinical Research.

Bethan Ingram (BN Hons)

Bethan is the Ambulatory Care Lead Nurse for Teenagers and Young Adults at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. After graduating from Cardiff University, Bethan began her nursing career on a Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. After 3 years, she gained a position on a new Teenage Cancer Trust Unit in Cardiff. During this time she completed her PgCert in Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Care. Nearly 3 years ago, Bethan decided to move to London and began working on a Haematology Oncology Day Care Unit. In June 2012, Bethan was appointed as Teenage and Young Adult Ambulatory Care Lead Nurse. Bethan has been involved in developing a new Ambulatory Care service for teenage and young adults. Ambulatory Care offers patients who were traditionally treated on an in-patient ward the option to be treated in a day-care setting. We are able to do this as a result of new mobile infusion pumps, specialist nursing and pharmacy support, as well as access to near by patient accommodation. Ambulatory Care aims to give patients more control over and involvement in their treatment, as well as support patients to feel more empowered. Bethan is currently studying towards an MSc, which she hopes to complete later this year.