Tributes as Peterborough’s top cancer nurse retires

But were it not for two twists of fate, she might never have come to nursing at all.

As a young woman, Macmillan lead cancer nurse Lynda Hall, 56, experienced two events that would determine her decision to devote her life to caring for others.

The first, at 16, was the loss of a dear friend who died in a traffic collision and the second was a blighted attempt to join the police force.

She said: “When I was a teenager, I had a very good friend who was involved in a road traffic accident and I wasn’t allowed to visit him in intensive care because I wasn’t family. It was really hard.

“Unfortunately, he died and that whole experience got me thinking about nursing as a career. That and the fact my other plan to become a police dog handler quickly evaporated, when it turned out women weren’t allowed to become dog handlers in the 80s!”

Her course mapped out, Lynda enrolled in nursing training at North Lonsdale Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, before working as an intensive care nurse at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester and then the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge for a decade.

She became a Macmillan breast cancer nurse specialist at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in 1997 and the rest, as they say, is history. As she moved around the country and between nursing specialisms, she carried with her a piece of advice that will never grow old.

She said: “When I was a student nurse, a Sister on one of the wards told us to “Treat every patient you meet as if they were your mum or dad, and that way you’ll never go wrong.

“40 years later I still say that to the young nurses I meet. It’s just so true – if all of us treated people like we’d want our parents to be treated, we’d all do a great job.”

Lynda, who officially retired at the end of June, will leave behind a legacy of specialist cancer services and healthcare professional roles that she developed with the support of Macmillan Cancer Support at Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke Hospitals.

She oversaw the development of numerous ground-breaking new services over the course of her 20-year tenure as lead cancer nurse, working with Macmillan on investments of more than £2m to improve and deliver more personalised, one to one care and support for everyone living with cancer.

The improvements she has overseen, which includes the development of a Cancer Care in the Community Service, will continue to make a difference to the thousands of local people facing a cancer diagnosis during the pandemic - a period she recently described as the “most challenging time I have ever experienced.”

Looking back, she said: “I think my biggest achievement was getting permission from the Chief Executive of Hinchingbrooke back in 1995 to start fundraising for the extension at the Macmillan Woodlands Centre – and then working with colleagues, patients, fundraisers and Macmillan to raise the £1.3m needed for our state-of-the-art cancer unit.

“It’s also been brilliant to see the Peterborough Cancer Care in the Community Service get off the ground in the last few years, with a dedicated team of cancer nurses delivering personalised care for people who have returned home from hospital. It’s modelled on a similar service I launched in Huntingdon and just shows how positive change can spread once you find a successful model for care.

“Throughout my time as lead cancer nurse I’ve seen what a huge difference Macmillan funding and guidance can make to improving cancer services. The health service would look very different without it.”

Lynda, who is married and has two grown-up children, is looking forward to long days playing golf and spending more time with her grandson, Finley, 4. But she won’t be letting go of nursing just yet, after Covid-19 derailed attempts to recruit her successor. She’ll be working part-time until a replacement is found.

She said: “There’s no doubt I’m going to miss this job. It’s been such a huge part of my life that in a sense it becomes a part of you, comes to define you. But all good things must come to an end and it’s time for some fresh eyes and fresh blood to bring in some new ideas.”

Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive at Macmillan Cancer Support said: “Lynda has been the driving force behind so many of Macmillan’s investments in improving cancer care in Huntingdon and Peterborough – from recruiting new cancer nurse specialists, establishing breast care and community cancer services to ensuring people get the personalised help and support they need during and after treatment. We have been privileged to work with a true nursing visionary.

“Macmillan nurses like Lynda play a hugely important role in improving and delivering specialist cancer care. However, we can only support our nurses and other professionals thanks to the generous donations of the public. As Macmillan faces a significant drop in income, we’ve launched an emergency appeal so that we can continue to support our professionals, fund vital cancer support services and ensure that cancer doesn’t become the forgotten C in this pandemic.”

Jo Bennis, Chief Nurse at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Hinchingbrooke, Peterborough City and Stamford and Rutland Hospitals, said:

“Lynda lives and breathes the true values of nursing, which is one of the reasons why she is so popular and respected by our patients and staff alike. Her support and tireless dedication to the care of some of our sickest patients over 25 years in our hospitals has been fantastic. On behalf of the Trust team and our patients, I would like to thank her for such superb service and we wish her a wonderful retirement.”

To donate to Macmillan Cancer Support, visit www.macmillan.org.uk/emergency or call 0300 1000 200.