Nurse-led renal cancer follow-up is safe and associated with high patient satisfaction—an audit from the East of England

BACKGROUND: With more people diagnosed and dying from renal cancers in England than ever before, treatment and follow-up post-surgery is of paramount importance. We have instituted a nurse-led follow-up service for renal cancers as a way to improve efficiency and make better use of clinic time. This is our first attempt to audit our service. OBJECTIVES: One of the main objectives of this project was to measure compliance of a nurse-led renal surveillance clinic against an established institutional follow-up protocol which was based on current European Association of Urology guidelines. We also aimed to assess patient satisfaction with nurse-led care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 89 patients with low/intermediate-risk kidney cancers who were on the nurse-led renal surveillance database following nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy were placed on a database. This was then audited for adherence to the clinic protocol. These same patients were subsequently sent patient satisfaction questionnaires. RESULTS: The audit revealed high levels of compliance against the renal clinic protocol as well as positive feedback from the patient satisfaction questionnaire. Ninety-five percent said they felt either at ease or very at ease speaking to the nurse specialist. No one was dissatisfied with their consultations with 86% being very satisfied and 14% fairly satisfied. This was reinforced further by 100% of patients feeling that they could discuss all aspects of their condition with the Uro-oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist (UOCNS). Ninety-seven percent felt that they had adequate time with the nurse. CONCLUSION: Nurse-led follow-up, in our setting, was noted to be safe and effective and was associated with high levels of patient satisfaction. This study adds to the growing body of work on the efficacy of nurse-led care.