Medical Secretary
Job overview
An exciting permanent post has arisen for an experienced, well-motivated and enthusiastic secretary to work in the Respiratory department, supporting Consultants and their team. The Respiratory team sits within the Complex & Academic Medicine unit, based at the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust.This role will be at Broadgreen Hospital
It is expected that all applicants will have completed the AMSPAR course and have appropriate experience working in a medical environment and have a good understanding and knowledge of medical terminology, experience in the use of PAS, IPM, PENS, Unity and EPRO would be advantageous.
The successful candidates must be able to undertake all administrative duties, be well organised, able to plan their own workload, work on their own initiative and work to strict deadlines. Excellent I.T. skills with knowledge and experience of all Microsoft office packages.Experience of working in an NHS office environment as a Medical Secretary. Knowledge of internal PAS system.
Understanding of Trust internal policies as appropriate.
Main duties of the job
Dictation to be typed from audio of all clinical correspondence and documentation ensuring timescales are adhered to on a daily basis.
Taking Minutes at various meetings.
Support Consultants in non-clinical activities/teaching by preparing documents, arranging meetings using relevant software packages – Microsoft Office.
Check against clinical letters to ensure appropriate follow up arrangements/investigations are in place.
Ensure all investigations are signed by consultant or team and actioned as per instruction. All investigations are to be dealt with in accordance with Trust policy.
Keep track on inpatient referrals to ensure patients are reviewed promptly.
Effective verbal and written communication to be maintained at all times by extracting the correct/relevant information to deal successfully with queries/requests from GP’s, staff, patients, relatives and others.
Working for our organisation
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients.
UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.
For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West.
Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation.Liverpool Women’s Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK’s largest single site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.
For roles at Liverpool Women’s, visit their careers page.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide a comprehensive service to consultants and speciality teams including nurse practitioners/clinicians.
To manage and maintain 18 week pathways including tertiary referrals to external trusts, and ensure these are accurately recorded on PAS system.
Keep track of referrals to ensure patient is reviewed promptly. Check that follow up appointments are arranged in conjunction with Referral to Treat (RTT) patient pathway.
Support consultants in non clinical activities role by preparing presentation documents using relevant packages and arranging meetings, set agenda, circulate agenda/supporting papers as appropriate, and take minutes at meetings.
Ensure appropriate personnel are informed of consultant annual leave/study leave. Keep consultants informed of junior doctor leave, as it could have an effect on the service.
Organise and maintain consultant’s admissions. Cancel and add patients to the waiting list, as appropriate, ensuring lists are updated, and patients contacted. Liaise with waiting list office, anaesthetic department and ward.
Type dictation from audio transcription of clinical correspondence and documentation. Type discharge summaries as appropriate. Maintain an effective track on inpatient referrals to ensure patient is reviewed promptly.
Check against clinical letters to ensure appropriate follow up arrangements/investigations are in place, rectify if not.
Ensure sickness absence and annual leave of clinical staff is reported.
Assist with the investigation and compilation of responses to complaints/incidents, helping to ensure this is done with the optimum deadlines set by the Trust.
Work from initiative using own judgement, acquired knowledge and tact to deal with queries and resolve situations or refer to appropriate person.
Deal with enquiries either on the telephone of face to face from patients, consultants, junior doctors and colleagues in an appropriate manner.
Ensure all correspondence relating to patient care is acted upon in a timely manner.
Accurate check of patient demographics using the Patient Administration System (PAS), including registration screen, checking patients details are correct, and tracking of casenotes.
Assist with audit/research data collection as required.
Obtain information as requested by line manager.
Be able to work as part of a team, promote effective flows in the department to cover leave to ensure office runs smoothly.
Attend appropriate training and education sessions at the request of manager.
General office duties, including incoming and outgoing mail, e-mail, fax, photocopying.
Participate in housekeeping of office environment.
Work with managers to review working practices, ways of working and find solutions to problems.
Implement policies and procedures for own area.
Record and input data onto databases and systems as appropriate.
To work in a flexible manner in accordance with Trust Policy.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Educated to GCSE/O Level standard/equivalent or higher
- RSA/OCR Typing/Word processing Level 3 or equivalent
- RSA/OCR Audio typing Skills Level 3
- Knowledge of medical terminology
- Secretarial Qualification or equivalent experience
- ECDL or equivalent
- Shorthand
Experience
Essential criteria- Excellent I.T. skills with knowledge and experience of all Microsoft office packages
- Demonstrable experience working in an NHS office environment as a medical secretarial
Skills/Ability/Knowledge
Essential criteria- Ability to communicate professionally at all levels in a helpful courteous manner. First Class Communication Skills
- Excellent Organisation Skills
- Excellent Word Processing and Keyboard Skills
- Ability to organise workload effectively and prioritise to meet deadlines
- Ability to work individually or as part of a team
- Legible handwriting
- Experience or supervising and motivating a team
- Time Management Skills
- Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills
- Knowledge of internal PAS system
- Understanding of Trust internal policies as appropriate
Qualities/Attriubtes
Essential criteria- Capability to adapt to most situations
- Eager to learn
- Ability to maintain control of stressful/sensitive situations
Other
Essential criteria- Comply with Trust policies and procedures
- Ability to show understanding and appreciation of the need to maintain confidentiality in all matters – Data Protection Act
- Ability and willingness to undergo further training in accordance with the needs of the post
Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
Posts advertised to ‘internal staff’ are open to employees of hospitals within University Hospitals of Liverpool Group and you should confirm your employment within your application form.
Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.
Candidates applying for the role of Healthcare Assistant on the staff bank should note that due to the nature of the role, workers must be aged 18 or above when commencing in post. Applicants are therefore welcome from those aged over 18 or within 3 months’ of their 18^th birthday.
The Trust is committed to promoting a healthy work-life balance and achieve fair, equitable and consistent practice. We welcome flexible working requests and will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements from day one of your employment.Not all roles are suitable for every flexible working opportunity all of the time. Flexible working options may include reduced hours, compressed hours, fixed shifts, time back in lieu and home working.
The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under-represented in our workforce black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16-24.
Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the successful applicant/s DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post. The amount of £23 (standard disclosure) or £43 (enhanced disclosure) will be deducted from salary, in manageable monthly instalments for up to 3 months following commencement of employment.Bank posts require upfront payment. DBS applications submitted from 2nd December will be subject to the new DBS fee of £26.50 (standard) and £54.50 (Enhanced).
From April 2017, Skilled visa applicants and their adult dependant(s) will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years.
Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.
This organisation has a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisations safeguarding children and adults’ policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures.
Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with the requirements of statutory guidance and legislation.
All employees (and volunteers)are expected maintain their safeguarding knowledge and skills by completing mandatory safeguarding training which includes understanding and recognising the signs of abuse and neglect and taking appropriate action.
As an organisation, we have adopted the Merseyside Domestic abuse workplace scheme which supports our staff who are experiencing Domestic Abuse /any forms of sexual violence.
If you have any personal requirements that will enable you to participate in our recruitment process please contact a member of the Recruitment Services by phone on 0151 706 4666 at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.
Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.