Having recently been appointed as a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) with the task of setting up a support service for people living with melanoma, I needed to ensure practice was evidence based and patients’ needs were met. Melanoma patients require informational support at diagnosis, during treatment and at recurrence with access to a specialist nurse to make sense of any information given. Co-ordination of care, counselling and being treated as a person and not a number are also important. This article describes how a skin cancer nurse specialist is best-placed to provide for the psychosocial needs of such patients.