Alison Guest and colleagues discuss their involvement in a project to pilot and introduce a service offering patients preparing for gynaecological surgery additional supportive care provided by clinical nurse specialists

This article describes a practice development project at a gynaecological oncology centre aimed at improving patient experience before admission for major pelvic surgery. Two full-time clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) were involved and the project was supported by a pre-assessment nurse. Centre staff saw 500 patient referrals with a suspected gynaecological malignancy each year. The CNS team thought that, due to the service design, some patients had too little time with a CNS, so a clinic was established to support patients’ care needs; evaluation indicates that the clinic gives patients an opportunity to discuss their pre-operative supportive care needs and enables post-operative care planning. It is now well established and an integral part of the patient pathway.