Charlotte Smith

Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - Nurse Consultant in Lung Cancer

I am a Nurse Consultant specialising in Lung Cancer within the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. This is a new role at this trust, and I have enjoyed the new challenges developing this role in the best way to support lung cancer patients over the past year and recently became the Deputy Lung Cancer Lead in the trust.

I have specialised in Thoracic Malignancies for 10 years with experience working with Thoracic Surgery, Oncology and Respiratory medicine. This gives me in depth knowledge about the lung cancer pathway and I can support and educate patients in each step of their journey. This includes working at The Royal Papworth Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital, Guy's & St Thomas Hospital in London, who all have a large lung cancer service. I also travelled to Paris to work at Georges Pompidou European Hospital, and learned about the lung cancer care they provide, and travelled to Brazil (Sao Paulo, Campinas) to learn about enhanced recovery after Thoracic Surgery including holistic treatments for lung cancer pain.

I have a Nurse Consultant lung cancer clinic once a week providing patients with a new diagnosis, and I have been able to set up a lung nodule clinic once a week with a lung nodule MDT once a month.

I am proud to be on the LCNUK Committee where I continue to learn and gain new experience and share ideas. I am part of the steering group for the Targeted Lung Health Checks (TLHC) team planning to start the lung screening in Norfolk for 2024.

One of my strong passions is the lung cancer pathway - I participate in managing the pathway to reduce the time from referral to treatment.

I have been working closely with the Lung Cancer CNS team and I am looking forward to the NNUH Lung Cancer CNS team getting their hard work and passion for patient care out there. Most importantly as a team we have set up a face-to-face support group for our patients that has proved to be very beneficial, and we managed to raise enough money to have a Christmas meal out with a total of 30 people attending. It was a very special event, and we will carry this on throughout the new year ahead.