EONS Newsletter June 2020

European Cancer Nursing Day on 18 May was a huge success, as cancer nurses across Europe spoke out loud and clear across social media in support of our campaign theme – the pressing need to address inequalities in access to good quality healthcare for everyone. In spite of the extra pressures that cancer nurses are under due to the pandemic, many shared this important message, and with lots of fantastic pictures. We would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who took part. You can read more about ECND20 in this newsletter.

Our other big news this month is about our conference, EONS13 which will now take place as a wholly virtual event due to safety concerns around COVID-19. The conference, with ESMO 2020, will be a wonderful opportunity to develop your learning and skills. You can find out more about the exciting new online EONS13 below.

**New registration coming soon**

We are now able to announce that EONS13 will take place as a virtual event from 19-21 September, rather than in Madrid as planned. The online EONS13 conference will offer a high quality programme and a rich context to develop your learning and cancer nursing skills. All those who have already registered and paid for attendance at the EONS13 congress will be contacted soon by ESMO regarding reimbursement, and a revised registration rate to attend the new online conference will be announced shortly. The new online programme will also be released soon. Get ready to be a part of this exciting event. More details will be available at https://www.cancernurse.eu/eons-13/  and at www.esmo.org/meetings/esmo-congress-2020

EONS, as a Belgium-based ASBL (Association sans but lucratif), needs to have its accounts approved at a General Meeting according to Belgian law. As EONS13 is now a virtual event, EONS will be organising an online, one-hour General Meeting on Tuesday 30 June at 09.00 AM CET to present the EONS accounts and provide the opportunity to the EONS membership for a sneak preview of the EONS13 Programme and plans for the year ahead. This will be followed by an electronic vote to approve the accounts. EONS Society representatives and individual members have been invited  by email to join this online meeting.

Cancer nurses across Europe and around the world spoke out on 18 May, European Cancer Nursing Day, in support of healthcare equality. The ECND20 theme – Strengthening Equality in Healthcare – focused on the need to address inequalities in access to good quality healthcare. A range of challenges prevent access to good quality cancer care in many countries and regions: these include nursing shortages, a lack of specialist qualifications for cancer nurses, poor safety equipment or working conditions. Despite additional pressures on cancer nurses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer nurses let Europe and the whole world know about the specialised work that they do– and how they have supported their healthcare colleagues in dealing with the enormous challenges of COVID-19, using the hashtag #ECND20Go4Equality. You can find out more and view the pictures across EONS’ social media and on the website at www.cancernurse.eu/event/ecnd2020/  

ECND20 fell in the WHO Year of the Nurse and Midwife. To mark this special year, the ‘ECND Strengthening Equality in Healthcare Award 2020’ invited nominations of two talented cancer nurses in recognition of the work they do to reduce health inequalities and increase access to universal health care, in line with WHO priorities. The award was promoted across EONS social media and a good number of nominations were received. On the eve of European Cancer Nursing Day, EONS President Andreas Charalambous announced the winners: Bodil Westman, Sweden, and Celia Diez de los Rios, Spain. Many congratulations to them both!

As part of ECND20, a new EONS Cancer Nursing Fund has been launched to help EONS fundraise for projects and give further assistance to cancer nurses, who will be able to apply for support. The fund will help enable cancer nursing education, research, capacity building and innovation. Donations can be made via the EONS website . Information on how to apply for grants will be available shortly.
 
The Cancer Nursing Index features a series of maps that present a detailed picture of the current cancer nursing situation across Europe – focusing on occupational safety, access to quality care and recognition of cancer nursing. This data, including the maps, will be used for our advocacy work on cancer nursing. View and download the maps on the new EONS website – www.cancernurse.eu
 
The newGuide to Establishing a National Cancer Nursing Society will be extremely useful in countries where these societies do not exist, and will also help to empower existing national societies to manage their organisation more effectively and strengthen their bond with EONS. The guide takes you, step by step, through the stages of starting and managing a national society, including key roles, action plans, governance and strategy. Download it from the EONS website - www.cancernurse.eu.

This new edition of target has been developed to give nurses a better understanding of the characteristics associated with cancer development and how targeted therapies have improved patient outcomes by inhibiting or manipulating these. Offering a target course through your society, interest group or institution, you will be giving nurses one of the best possible courses to understand this dynamically growing treatment area and will give them the knowledge to improve care and support for patients and their caregivers. The updated materials are available to EONS individual, associate or national society members who wish to organise a target course in their own country.

Additionally, EONS invites national oncology nursing societies/institutions to apply for financial support if they wish to translate the updated 2020 target materials.

For more information and to apply 
https://www.cancernurse.eu/education/eons-education-projects/

The call for the 2020 Masterclass is now closed and a high number of applications have been received. The EONS EEBR faculty will now review the applications received and the selected participants will be notified about the result in due course.
Further information related to this masterclass will be available soon at the EEBR webpage.
Find out more

EONS has worked hard over recent months to refresh and modernise its website – www.cancernurse.eu and the new site was launched on ECND2020 on 18 May. We hope you like the new website, designed to be more attractive and easy for EONS members to use, and packed with all the usual high quality information and resources about cancer nursing – plus lots of new initiatives and tools. It will be further developed with more information and resources over the coming months.

EONS contributed a Guest Editorial to the latest issue of the European Journal of Oncology Nursing to mark the occasion of 2020 being the WHO Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Written by Lena Sharp, Manuela Eicher and Patrick Jahn, this in-depth article looks at how, given the increasing political awareness of the importance of a strong nursing workforce, we have a historic chance to move forward with cancer nursing in terms of professional recognition and access to resources (such as adequate staffing, education, improved infrastructure, support for research, development and implementation of new nursing interventions).
Read the full article

On 27 May, the European Commission proposed a new health programme -EU4Health- to strengthen health security and prepare for future health crises with a budget of €9.4 billion. The EU4Health programme is part of the €750 billion EU budget boosted by Next Generation EU, an emergency temporary recovery instrument to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought by the coronavirus pandemic, to kickstart the recovery and prepare for a better future for the next generation The new increased budget of the EU4Health programme contains a strong commitment on behalf of the European Commission to deliver a successful Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.  
EONS submitted a response to the EU’s Consultation on the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and in addition was invited to send information on what to include in the Plan from a cancer nursing perspective. The EONS Board and Advocacy Working Group collaborated together on the EONS Position Statement on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan which was sent to Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and DG Santé’s Beating Cancer Team. The EONS Advocacy Working Group are also very active in using and developing the Cancer Nursing Index launched at ECND20 as a core advocacy tool to influence both national and international cancer and cancer workforce policies.

Although it falls a little earlier, ECND has become the initial event of the annual European Week Against Cancer which starts on the 25 May and concludes on World No Tobacco Day on 31 May. During EWAC, cancer charities, European policymakers and the general public engage. Each day focused on a different aspect of the cancer continuum: prevention, early detection, cancer research, access to treatments, patients and survivorship, care infrastructure and tobacco control. To mark #ΕWAC2020, an art exhibition and competition was organised by the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL). Among other issues at EU level, ECL advocates for a stronger participatory decision-making, social justice, a rights-based approach, sustainable investment, health-in-all policies and cross-sector collaboration for the development of an ambitious and pragmatic Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.