PA/Medical Secretary

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a well-motivated individual to join us as a PA/Medical Secretary in the Oncology Department within Networked Services Division.

This is a Part time permanent post. It will be working 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, with the option of hybrid working. The Trust are committed to supporting flexible working agreements.

You will be responsible for covering the provisions of full secretarial and administrative support within the Urology team, ensuring a high standard of PA / secretarial duties is maintained and deadlines and audio typing targets are met.

You will be enthusiastic, flexible, willing to learn, eager to play an effective part in a busy team environment, work to a high standard and be able to use your own initiative.

You will have experience of audio typing and copy typing and ideally have worked within a healthcare environment with Medical Secretarial experience and a good knowledge of medical terminology. Knowledge of cancer pathways/targets would be beneficial.

When applying for this position, please refer to the person specification and demonstrate within your application form how you meet the criteria, providing examples where possible.

Main duties of the job

As a PA/Medical Secretary for the Urology Team, you will be responsible for completing, but not limited to, tasks such as:

• Liaise with all consultants in your area of responsibility to provide a full secretarial service, including all administrative duties and dealing with mail, this includes placing it in order of priority and acting on matters which can be dealt with without further reference.
• Appropriately disseminate a variety of correspondence/documentation, some of which is highly confidential.
• Type clinical correspondence, treatment summaries and annotations, ensuring compliance with turnaround time/ targets and ensure that office instructions are followed.
• Organise and schedule meetings and maintain an up to date diary for appointments, meetings and interviews.
• Effectively monitor clinic templates liaising with clinical team and administration staff to ensure clinic numbers are manageable. Escalating to the management team when appropriate.
• Liaise with staff at all levels both internally and externally, answering written and verbal enquiries when necessary, taking action on all matters which can be dealt with without further reference.
• Answer written and verbal enquiries from patients/relatives, referring enquiries to consultants only when necessary.
• Deal with stressful phone calls which can be emotional / abusive and of a sensitive nature from relatives/patients.
• Liaise with internal and external departments to arrange clinical investigations/procedures.

Working for our organisation

The Christie is one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years.

We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Liaise with all consultants in your area of responsibility to provide a full secretarial service, including all administrative duties and dealing with mail, which includes placing it in order of priority and acting on matters which can be dealt with without further reference.
• Appropriately disseminate a variety of correspondence/documentation, some of which is highly confidential.
• Organize and schedule meetings and maintain an up-to-date diary for appointments, meetings and interviews.
• Effectively monitor clinic templates liaising with clinical team and appropriate administration staff to ensure clinic numbers are manageable. Escalating to Admin and Service Managers when appropriate.
• Liaise with staff at all levels both internally and externally, answering written and verbal enquiries when necessary, acting on all matters which can be dealt with without further reference.
• Answer written and verbal enquiries from patients/relatives, referring enquiries to consultants only when necessary.
• Deal with stressful phone calls which can be emotional / abusive and of a sensitive nature from relatives/patients.
• Liaise with internal and external departments to arrange clinical investigations/procedures.
• Liaise with patients involved in trials undertaken by the team, coordinating all necessary information between patients, hospital and organizing bodies
• Ensure accurate input of patient details when entering data onto information databases and Patient Administration System (Careflow) including routine use of the case note tracking system.
• Receive new patient referrals and organize appointment/admissions and arrange treatment as required.
• Contribute to the appropriate management of the waiting list, particularly in relation to patients who fall within the two-week wait category
• Co-ordinate annual leave within the group to ensure clinics are capped or cancelled as necessary in order that clinics are managed effectively, and nursing staff are allocated appropriately to other areas.
• Contribute to the training of new members of staff within a given area as required.
• Ensure case notes are kept up to date and that all investigations and other material (outside notes and films) are available for clinic appointments/admissions
• Provide information required to support the investigation of litigation cases.
• Provide statistical information to the Information Department as required.
• Work with Clinicians, Managers and Administration staff to review working practices, identify new improved ways of working and find solutions to problems.
• Work with the management team to improve quality and range of services, with resources being managed according to agreed policies and priorities.
• Ensure all relevant information is available for multi-disciplinary meetings for your team. Co-ordinate case notes and reports where necessary.

• Always follow risk management procedures including the identification, assessment, and management of risk within the division.
• To abide by all Trust policies and Procedures.
• To be responsible for own professional /personal development, including participating in ongoing appraisal and personal development planning.

This job description is not intended to be exhaustive but reflects the main responsibilities of the post holder. Other duties and flexibility may be required from time to time, which are commensurate with the grade of the post. This job description is subject to regular review and appropriate modification.

Person specification

Qualifications

• 5 GCSE’s grade C or above including Maths and English or equivalent

• Evidence of further development

Experience

• Previous secretarial experience in a similar environment
• Previous experience of working in a health care setting
• Experience of working as part of a team and in isolation
• Experience in managing priorities under pressure, to meet service needs and strict deadlines

• Previous secretarial experience in Oncology

Skills

• Audio typing
• Copy typing
• Sound knowledge of medical terminology
• RSA stage II
• Word-processing
• Willing to attend training courses appropriate to role

• Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint)
• RSA stage III
• AMSPAR Diploma (or equivalent)

Knowledge

• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to produce accurate, well presented typing work
• Organisational abilities to work to tight deadlines
• Ability to work under pressure
• Flexibility to work within the team where necessary

Values

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours

Other

• Ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to work on own and to use initiative
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Flexible and pro-active approach
• Self-motivated and Enthusiastic

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit.

We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy

All positions within the Christie are subject to the receipt of satisfactory written references, medical clearance and evidence of your Right to Work in the UK. Some roles will require a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check. Please note if you are successfully appointed to a post with this Trust, you will be required to pay for your own DBS Disclosure.

Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.

If you have not heard from us within four weeks of the closing date, I regret that on this occasion your application will have been unsuccessful.

The Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process is a critical and beneficial component of ESR and will form part of the recruitment process. In the event that you are successful following interview your previous NHS employment data, if applicable will be transferred from your current / most recent employer.

Overseas candidates wishing to apply for this position and who would require immigration sponsorship, may wish to self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the post on the UKVI website.

You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work.