Online NHS Course | Oncology Telephone Triage

Enhance your Oncology Nurse-led Telephone Triage Assessment

Online Course, 5 CPD hours

Thu 19 Mar 2026

Update your clinical practice and improve your management of patients

Specifically created for Advanced Clinical Nurse Practitioners in Acute Oncology and Immunotherapy

This online course provided practical tools, crucial guidance, and transferable skills to ensure safe, competent, and timely remote triaging of patients. By delving into interactive and hands-on tasks, participants left this immersive day with confidence, having mastered new skills and feeling ready to implement them in their triage process.

Case-study based learning

Are you continually striving to improve your management of patients accessing your assessment hotline? Would you benefit from practical, structured, and tested guidance that works in your service? If so, then this online course is designed for you.

Participants on Thursday 19th March refocused on:

How to become a telephone triage detective
Navigating the unknown during virtual consultations
Developing effective assessment tools
Solidifying triage pathways
Guidance on ensuring sustained competency
Exploring effective teamworking in triage

Online NHS courses

We understand that training time is limited. This one-day forum focused on developing nurse-led telephone assessment.

Attendees benefited from:

Evidence-based examples and referrals: providing appropriate triage, referral, and signposting
Interactive presentations: formalising triage hotlines and ensuring safe, competent assessment
Closed room discussions: opportunities to benchmark practice and engage with fellow attendees
Agreed action plan: leaving the forum with the confidence and clarity to implement meaningful changes

Available for in-house training

Available as bespoke training to teams of 25 or more people. Please do contact us if you would like this course delivered exclusively to your team, with the content developed to drill into the specific needs of your service. Please email Sarah Kemm or call 01732 897788 for further details.

Learning & development

Oncology National Networking Forums are pleased to be featured as part of the ACCEND Framework

The ePortfolio platform is available via the Greater Manchester Cancer Academy and supports professional development in cancer care.

This forum and all of our events are mapped to the ACCEND Framework and can be recorded in the ACCEND ePortfolio to help you evidence your learning, reflections and competencies.

To find out more, click on the ACCEND tab.

9:00	Join, tech support and opportunity to network in breakout rooms
9:30	Introduction, instructions and leader’s opening remarks Ali Hodge, Nurse Consultant Immunotherapy and Acute Oncology and Charlie Hughes, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
9:40	How to become a telephone triage detective Determining the difference between nursing versus consultant triaging How to build and develop your triage assessment skills Understanding the complexities around triage and knowing when to investigate further
10:30	Interactive discussion: Navigating the unknown during your virtual triage consultation What investigative tools do you use when approaching unfamiliar triaging? When should you go for help to ensure patients are triaged safely? How do you follow the correct referral pathway for your more complex patients?
10:50	Screen break
11:00	Interactive discussion feedback: Navigating the unknown during your virtual triage consultation
11:10	Developing your assessment tools and solidifying your triage pathway Explore the UKONS risk assessment tool with your hotline Understand why tools are important for competency How to optimise your triage tool to improve appropriateness of care Formalise your referral pathways and building confidence in your decision making
12:00	Interactive action planning: Assess and enhance your current assessment tool
12:30	Morning question and answer session
12:45	Lunch break
1:30	Continue your teams’ competencies and education Guidance for continuing your education and how to ensure sustained competency Regular updates for your clinical practice: build your own CPD portfolio Supporting your team with additional training requirements
1:45	Effective team working in triage Compassionate team leadership and emotional intelligence Psychological safety in teamwork: reflexivity and reflective practice Communicating with your staff: challenging conversations and consequences
2:20	Screen break
2:30	Interactive task: Reflecting on your existing communication skills
3:20	Question and answer session
3:30	Chair’s closing remarks and close of course

With thanks to the speakers

This unique training shared practical tools driven by experience and was brought to life by Ali Hodge. Ali is described by attendees as “extremely helpful with her empathy and understanding of the complexities surrounding triage.” Others who have benefited from her online training wrote: “I really liked Ali's 'real-world' stance on the challenges we all face,” and “I love that Ali is so animated, passionate, and realistic about what is achievable with current NHS resources.” Ali was joined by Charlie Hughes, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

Ali Hodge

Nurse Consultant Immunotherapy and Acute Oncology

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Biography

Charlie Hughes

Advanced Clinical Practitioner

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Who came?

This course was designed to meet the needs of all experience levels. Specifically created for Clinical Nurse Practitioners in NHS Acute Oncology and Immunotherapy teams.

Past attendee feedback

Our focused online forums have received excellent feedback – but don’t take our word for it!

"Good to hear about what innovations are taking place within the NHS, also sad to hear how provisions are not equal in other parts of the UK . Also interesting to have a broader scope of understanding from other disciplines"