 |  |  | | | NEW NURSE CONSULTANT COMES TO ESSEX | | | | |
| |  | |  Jo Tonkin, Nurse Consultant
Release Date: 24 January 2005
One of the UK’s leading haematology nurses has joined Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust to help develop and improve services for patients in North East Essex.
Jo Tonkin, from Leavenheath, is believed to be only the fourth nurse in the country to hold a nurse consultant post in the speciality.
Her post is being funded for the first three years by the Macmillan Cancer Relief charity and will then be taken over by Essex Rivers Healthcare, which runs Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital. Last year, the Trust saw 440 new haematology patients.
Jo qualified as a nurse at Addenbrooke's in 1987 and then worked there as a staff nurse on a haematology ward. Her last job was as Lead Nurse for the Mid Anglia Cancer Network (MACN) which she held for three years.
Born and bred in Colchester, she said: "I enjoyed my last job, but what I really missed was the patient contact. So I’m looking forward to working with Essex Rivers Healthcare.
"As this is a new post my role is still developing but I will eventually spend at least fifty per cent of my time on clinical work, which will include developing my own caseload and caring for patients previously seen only by consultants. This should have a positive impact on waiting times," she added.
The Trust has plans to improve existing services and to develop new ones, culminating in the completion of the £220m PFI project at Colchester General Hospital in 2009. Jo said: "I look forward to contributing to this important work which will bring great benefits to patients."
As well as at Colchester General Hospital, she is expecting to run clinics for people living outside the borough, possibly at the community hospitals at Clacton, Halstead and Harwich.
The type of patients who will benefit are expected to include those with long-term malignant haematological disorders such as chronic leukaemia, myeloma and myelodysplasia (a disease affecting elderly people which can lead to bone marrow failure). In addition, she will be working with the rest of the team caring for patients with acute haematological conditions, such as acute leukaemia,
Jo will help the Trust to develop plans to provide chemotherapy in Colchester for young patients with acute leukaemia – who currently spend some of their time as inpatients in either London or Cambridge – under a "shared care basis" with a specialist centre. This will make it much more convenient for patients, their families, friends and other carers.
The PFI development will result in improved day care facilities at Colchester General Hospital and, for the first time, a ward dedicated solely to haematology patients. They are currently cared for on Nayland Ward, a mixed specialty ward.
She will spend time in the haematology day unit at Colchester General Hospital, on the wards and also in clinics with consultants. A key part of her role will involve the education and training of nursing staff.
Mrs Tonkin is currently spending one day a week researching how haematological conditions can affect issues relating to sexuality, such as fertility and body image, for a masters degree from the University of Essex. She is then hoping to apply what she has learned to improve the patient experience.
Her new post is the third Macmillan post that she has held. She has also worked as a Macmillan palliative care nurse at West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, and as a Macmillan clinical nurse specialist in haematology and oncology at Ipswich Hospital.
Jo has also worked as a ward sister on a bone marrow transplant unit at Charing Cross Hospital, London. She undertook post-basic cancer nurse training at the Royal Marsden Hospital ― the UK's leading cancer centre that is recognised worldwide for the quality of its services ― and time spent in management. In addition, she has held posts managing cancer services at various levels.
Mrs Tonkin's is the second nurse consultant post at Essex Rivers Healthcare ― the first worked in colorectal cancer.
Source: Livvy Fernandes, Nursing Leukaemia Co-ordinator, Leukaemia Research
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