Colorectal Medical Secretary | Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Medical Secretary to join the Colorectal team based at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. The successful applicant will become an integral part of an efficient team providing secretarial support to Consultant Surgeons and Specialist Nurses.

The post holder will need to have excellent typing and interpersonal skills, the ability to meet challenging deadlines, and maintain standards relating to administrative processes, with the ability to exercise initiative, operating within procedural guidelines and to plan ahead and priorities workload in response to changing demands.

You should be able to demonstrate that you live our Trust values of teamwork, honesty, respect, inclusivity, valuing people and excellence.

If you have any queries about this role please contact Javeria.iqbal@ldh.nhs.uk

The post holder will be responsible for providing a comprehensive medical secretarial service to the Consultant and the Consultant’s team. This will include providing secretarial support to the STT (Straight to Test) nursing team. The medical secretary will be instrumental of the smooth running of the office and will need to work without supervision, using their initiative when dealing with enquiries that arise in the absence of the Consultant, to bring about a successful outcome.

The post holder must be willing to work for other Consultants within the directorate. The post also demands the ability to communicate at all levels with patient, relative, medical colleagues and allied health professionals and maintain a high standard of service to meet the needs of the patient.

The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job

To comply at all times with any regulations issued by the Trust, especially those governing Health and Safety at work and to ensure that any defects which may affect safety at work are brought to the attention of the appropriate manager.

It is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the Trust's environmental impact by recycling wherever possible, switching off lights, computers, monitors and equipment when not in use, minimising water usage and reporting faults promptly.

1. Work is managed rather than supervised. Act independently to plan, manage and prioritise own workload
2. Knowledge and understanding through experience of sound office and secretarial practices. To organise and manage an efficient/effective filing system, thus ensuring all office practices are up-to-date and functional. Photocopying of relevant information
3. Extensive key board skills including, touch and audio typing. Knowledge of software programmes (Microsoft Word, Outlook and hospital database).
4. Appropriate knowledge and understanding of medical terms and procedures
5. To provide the first point of contact for all written and telephone enquires on behalf of the Consultant and his/her team, using judgement to establish validity and priority of the contact
6. Endeavour to meet urgent deadlines e.g. Complaints, police reports, medical reports and other external organisations, ensuring patient confidentiality is maintained
7. To carry out reasonable requests made by the Consultant and Line Manager to whom you will be responsible
8. To deal with telephone calls, faxes, emails and take appropriate action as required. Provide non-clinical information to patients about admissions and appointments. Reassuring patients who are worried about test results
9. Telephone calls should be dealt with in a sensitive and tactful manner especially when liasing with distressed, angry or confused patients/relatives
10. On receipt of test/investigation results, retrieve relevant patients notes and alert Consultant/Consultant’s team of any urgent or abnormal test results ensuring that relevant action is taken
11. Ensure that results and correspondence are up-to-date in the notes as far as is practicable
12. To ensure that all correspondence produced by the Department, including clinic letters, discharge summaries and administrative letters are typed and dispatched promptly to the referring Consultant/GP. This may involve reading reports over the telephone
13. Act independently to sort, distribute and prioritise incoming mail, using judgement and experience to decide which documents are to be passed to the Consultant and which may be passed directly to other areas for action and information, thus using own initiative
14. Obtain and collect hospital case notes and x-rays as requested by consultant and team and use Evolve electronic patient record as required to fulfil duties effectively
15. Frequently utilise iPM for patient enquiries and data entry. This includes transferring notes using PDT, searching for personal patient information and results and ensuring that patient information is kept up to date when advised of change
16. Order and maintain non stock equipment and stationary for the office
17. To make appointments, maintain diary and manage arrangements within the office for Consultant. This will necessitate the post holder being able to prioritise certain areas of the Consultant’s time
18. Provide statistical information as required
19. Notify relevant departments of Consultant/Junior Staff’s annual/study leave and any changes to his/her outpatient clinics or theatre schedules
20. To provide information for the Clinical Coding Department. This will include liasing with the Consultant and Clinical coders and the provision of information to that Department when queries arise
21. To liase, when necessary, with Clinic Clerks in advising patients of appointments
22. To ensure referrals from other Consultants and GP’s are dealt with in a prompt manner
23. Organise and support (including minute teaking) regular/ad hoc meetings as required. Ensure relevant equipment for meetings is available and order food if necessary
24. Assist colleagues in providing a reasonable level of cover for the work of absent secretaries when necessary
25. Liase with other hospitals regarding referrals and appointments
26. Retrieve, type, prioritise order and distribute theatre lists to all relevant departments/staff. Liasing with staff and arranging emergency operative procedures added to theatre list at short notice. Communicating accurate information to the admissions department regarding the patient and their surgical procedure
27. To liaise with patients and/or medical and nursing staff to arrange transport when required
28. Concentration is required when transcribing a tape, typing a complicated medical document, or arranging admission/appointments. There are frequent interruptions by the telephone and/or staff entering the office to make inquiries, but these do not cause a change of task
29. Dealing with verbally aggressive patients seeking information about pending appointments etc.

This advert closes on Tuesday 22 Oct 2024