Local nurse Annie Treanor wins top accolade at Nursing Standard Awards
As a Macmillan Project Manager with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Annie Treanor from Burren, near Warrenpoint, has helped improve aftercare for local cancer patients.

Left to right on stage: Grainne Kavanagh, Macmillan; Caroline Lynas, South Eastern Trust; Moyra Mills, Northern Trust, Mary Jo Thompson, Public Health Agency; Annie Treanor, Southern Trust; Liz England, Western Trust and Edel Aughey, Belfast Trust with Award host Rufus Hound
Her achievements as part of the Transforming Cancer Follow up (TCFU) programme were recently recognised at the Nursing Standard Awards in London, where the team of Northern Ireland nurses won the cancer nursing category.
Accepting the award on behalf of the TCFU team, Mary Jo Thompson, Nurse Consultant, Public Health Agency said, “We are delighted to receive this prestigious nursing award.
“The success has been achieved because nurses and professionals at all levels have had a shared vision of how to improve aftercare for patients affected by cancer.”
The Transforming Cancer Follow up programme, led by the Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency, has been made possible by generous funding provided by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Patient care has begun to move away from a traditional “one size fits all” approach to cancer aftercare, which traditionally was based around routine follow up appointments. Instead the focus is on individualised tailored aftercare.
As part of the new ‘recovery package’, every patient within the new breast cancer programme has access to a clinical nurse specialist (CNS), who discusses their needs in the form of a written ‘care plan’, which they can take away with them.
Patients are advised of the signs and symptoms to look out for and told who to contact, should any problem arise. If necessary, a hospital appointment is scheduled without delay. A treatment record is provided for patients and their GPs.
This ensures coordination of care and a good understanding of any possible longer term consequences and complications which could arise.
Also, people are invited to go along to a ‘health and wellbeing’ event, where they hear about all the practical things they can do to keep well and find out about local support services on their doorstep.
Macmillan has invested more than £1 million in the Transforming Cancer Follow Up programme. The leading cancer charity’s general manager in Northern Ireland, Heather Monteverde, says cancer care is undergoing radical changes. “Without a complete transformation of the way people are supported after their treatment ends, there is no way patients will get the aftercare they so desperately need, whether that’s practical help at home, financial advice, or even emotional support.
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