A specialist nursing team from Sheffield has received a prestigious national award for developing a groundbreaking care pathway that supports women through the complex journey of a rare pregnancy-related cancer.
National Recognition for Holistic Care Innovation
The team from Weston Park Cancer Centre, part of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has won the Ingrid Fuchs Cancer Nursing Award at the 2025 Nursing Times Awards. Led by Nurse Consultant Kam Singh, the team triumphed against strong competition from healthcare providers across the UK. This marks the second consecutive year a cancer nursing team from the Trust has won this award.
The award recognises their work in creating a personalised follow-up service for patients with Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD). GTD is an umbrella term for a group of rare, yet highly treatable, tumours that occur during pregnancy. The impact of the disease is profound, combining the challenges of a cancer diagnosis with the trauma of pregnancy loss and anxieties about future fertility.
A Pathway That Cares for the Whole Person
Moving beyond traditional medical monitoring, the Sheffield team built a service that addresses patients' physical, emotional, and personal needs. Previously, follow-up was centred on detecting cancer recurrence, often done remotely via blood tests, leaving a gap in understanding the condition's full psychological and long-term effects.
The innovative pathway includes several key components:
- A pioneering web-based clinical assessment tool that allows women to self-report symptoms and quality-of-life issues alongside standard biomedical checks. This tool, a first of its kind nationally and internationally for GTD, helps patients discuss sensitive topics like mental health, fertility, and sex, while reducing questionnaire fatigue.
- Nurse-led hybrid clinics offering flexible in-person or virtual appointments at critical intervals: three weeks, six weeks, three months, six months, and annually for five years post-treatment.
- Integrated psychological support through online peer groups and guaranteed one-to-one counselling sessions with specialist nurses.
Awards judges praised the pathway for “setting a new standard of follow-up care” for women facing these dual physical and emotional challenges.
Patient Voices and Professional Pride
Kam Singh, the GTD Nurse Consultant, said: “It’s an incredible achievement for our team. This award represents our dedication to nursing and our commitment to giving patients a voice. Empowering patients to take ownership of their health and care is at the heart of everything we do.”
Professor Chris Morley, Chief Nurse at the Trust, added: “The GTD nursing team have excelled in innovating in a specialist area to make a huge difference to the lives of women living with and beyond diagnosis and treatment of this rare condition in Sheffield and beyond.”
The real-world impact is echoed by patients like Camilla, 46, from Driffield, who was treated for Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia. “The GTD team are an incredible team. They talk to you about everything, treatment, family, friends, life in general. We’re all so busy and they give you time to talk, it’s so precious,” she said, confirming the team fully deserved their award.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust hosts one of only three national specialist centres for Gestational Trophoblastic Disease in the UK.
