Emma Bennett and colleagues describe the development and evaluation of an initiative to provide clinical nurse specialist support for people with advanced disease

The aim of this article is to offer an insight into the development of a secondary breast cancer clinical nurse specialist service and to report results from a patient satisfaction survey undertaken a year after implementation. The authors explore the background to service provision at that time, in conjunction with local and national efforts to improve access to specialist nursing services for patients with advanced breast cancer. Highlighting the referral guidelines and components of day-to-day practice, as well as future plans and ongoing developments, the article also focuses on the patient experience work undertaken by the service. This work enabled evaluation of the benefits of the role and review of service delivery, demonstrating perceived improvements in care from a patient and health professional perspective.