NHS - Medical Secretary - General Surgery & Urology

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a band 3 medical secretary to join the General Surgery and Urology department at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic, organised, empathetic individual with excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

This role is available on a fulltime basis, working 37.5 hours a week (9am-5pm). You should have a good level pf education. (2 GCSE's (9-4) or A-C and strong typing skills.

In this role, you will be allocated clinicians and will be responsible for a wide variety of administration duties. You will provide high quality secretarial and administrative support to our Nurses and Consultants, maintaining departmental and Trust standards in line with Standard Operating Procedures and ensure patients are treated with courtesy, dignity and respect.

If you are interested in this vacancy, we would encourage an informal visit to the department prior to the interview stage, to gauge a feel for the role.

This will also give an opportunity to speak with the secretaries about the job role and the benefits of working for the department.

Health Careers |

• To work closely with clinical and administrative staff and other employees within the Trust and liaise with patients, GP’s and other external agencies.
• This position requires empathy and tact when dealing with patients who may be angry or upset regarding any aspect of their care.
• To communicate effectively in writing and verbally on a daily basis.
• To ensure all results of investigations are tracked and shown to the relevant consultant promptly for action as instructed.
• To independently deal with patient/carer enquiries in an efficient, sensitive and confidential manner and referring on to the clinician as appropriate.
• All clinic outcomes to be recorded accurately and completed or amended.
• Clinical diaries to be maintained and checked against the published timetables. Discretion and initiative used when arranging meetings and appointments for patients, relatives and others. To ensure that medical staff leave and cover arrangements are circulated and clinical activities are amended accordingly.
• Taking and transcribing formal minutes if required.
• To open and act on correspondence received.
• To undertake a variety of office duties such as filing, typing, opening and distributing post, photocopying, moving and lifting of patient notes.
• To organise own workload efficiently and to highlight any concerns to the Admin Team Leader.
• To produce and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all aspects of the Medical Secretary role.

Working for our organisation

This is an exciting opportunity to work alongside multidisciplinary teams. The general surgical department consists of 8 lower GI surgeons, 7 upper GI surgeons, 1 vascular surgeon and 6 urologists.

There are also juniors doctors ranging from FY1s to ST8s including Surgical Fellows, Ambulatory Fellows and Physicians Associates.

We also work closely with nursing teams across all four specialties.

The department is supported by a Practice Manager, 2 Team Leaders and a team of Band 3 and Band 2 medical secretaries.

For further information, or to arrange an informal visit, please contact Olivia Herrera, Team Leader on 01803 654810 or email: [email protected]

Why work with us

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To ensure that all clinical and non-clinical correspondence is typed within local targets, using the Infoflex system. (Audio and copy typing)

To review discharge summaries and ensure investigations/appointments are booked appropriately

To train and support new/less experienced staff within the team

To support any Secretarial Assistants within the department in their role and ensure compliance with Standard Operating Procedures

Any other appropriate duties/tasks as requested by management

Please refer to your suitability to the post in your supporting information from the role requirements or person specification.

Person specification

Qualifications and training

• Good standard of education to include GCSE in Maths and English or equivalent
• Proven experience of Excel spreadsheets
• Typing qualification to RSA stage II/OCR II or equivalent level of speed and accuracy (40wpm)
• Proven experience of audio typing

• AMSPAR/Medical Terminology qualification

Knowledge and experience

• Proven secretarial and administrative experience
• Ability to use medical terminology appropriately
• Customer care experience of providing a customer focused service
• Ability to effectively use the Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint

• Medical Secretary/NHS experience
• Knowledge and experience of the Trust patient administrative and information systems
• Understanding of hospital policies and procedures including the Trust Access Policy
• Knowledge and experience of a range of computer software packages e.g. e-Referral, Infoflex, CRIS, Cyberlab, Symphony, PAS etc

You will be joining the organisation at an exciting time. As the first fully integrated care organisation in England, we are working to improve the way we deliver safe, high-quality health and social care. We have a positive and vibrant working atmosphere, we are proud of our investment in our staff both in terms of developing potential career skills and valuing people.

If you provide support to a family member or friend with health or care needs, we aim to be a Carer-friendly employer. We have a ‘Staff Carers’ policy which includes flexible working where possible and a Carer’s Passport scheme that links you into support and discounts.

• We reserve the right to close vacancies early if we receive a high volume of applications. Please apply promptly
• Please read the job description and tailor your application to reflect the role
• Correspondence will be via Trac, text and email. Please check your email and Trac account regularly.
• Applicants with no previous NHS experience will ordinarily be appointed to the minimum of the band
• If you have not received an invitation to interview within 28 days of the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion
• It is your responsibility to assist us in the timely receipt of appropriate references

If you require support you can obtain this from our Equality Business Forum which has representatives from all protected groups.