09 Oct
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Gloucester
Job description
Job summary
The Neurology team are looking to welcome a motivated, organised, and efficient secretary into the Neurology Support Team.
The post-holder will provide an efficient, confidential and professional secretarial service to the medical staff and their supporting team.
This will include administration and secretarial support to enable provision of patient care and speciality services. Good communication with patients, relatives, general practitioners and other hospital staff is essential to ensure a proficient, high-quality service for patients and clinicians.
The post-holder will be expected to work as part of the Neurology team but also support the secretarial team as needed.
This role would also be suitable for those looking to progress to Band 3 from a Band 2. The successful candidate must be willing to work toward the requirements of a Band 3, with wider support from the department to meet the role specific requirements set out below.
If you have any questions or would like to arrange pre-application visits to the Department you can contact the Secretary Supervisor on 0300 422 6758 or
Main duties of the job
The medical secretary is responsible for :
- Providing a comprehensive secretarial and administrative service to the medical staff and their supporting team.
- Providing cover for colleagues in their absence to maintain service levels
- Ensuring excellent communication is provided to patients, relatives, general practitioners and other hospital staff to ensure a proficient, high-quality service for patients and clinicians.
- Ensuring all clinics are used to their full capacity and that any vacant slots are fully utilised and acted upon, including informing the Booking Office, to maximise capacity
- Regularly informing the secretarial supervisor about progress and flags up as a matter of urgency any issues, for example, capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients, etc
- Managing the pathway for patients referred in under the two-week wait ensuring they are monitored to minimise / avoid breach
- Carrying out regular review and administrative validation of the clinician's return outpatient wait list
- Supporting the achievement of Trust performance by ensuring administrative standards are met , typing times, test results passed to clinician and any potential 52-week breaches are escalated to the clinician, secretarial supervisor or AGM / DGM to avoid breach.
- Ensuring all clinic cancellations / alterations are dealt with efficiently and in line with the Trust's 8 week annual / study leave policy.
About us
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest employer in the county and with over 8,000 staff, we are one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK.
We offer a generous annual leave allowance, excellent bank rates, access to the excellent NHS Pension Scheme, discounts for local shops, restaurants and services, access to our health and well-being hub, access to our two on-site nurseries, flexible working options, discounted public transport, reward and recognition schemes, exercise and activity classes and membership to our popular hospital choir.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Whilst the organisation and structure within specialities / divisions may vary the specific remit of this role will include :
Referrals and Booking
- Deal with enquiries by letter / e-mail / telephone from patients, GPs, other hospitals, police, solicitors (via legal department), other consultants and management
- Highlighting to the clinical team members any results, correspondence or patient queries that need response and taking action booking investigations, transcription, etc.
- If appropriate to the role, booking follow-up appointments as requested by the clinical team, including negotiation of dates with the patient and creating correspondence
- Booking investigations as requested by the clinical team, including negotiation of dates with the patients and creating correspondence if appropriate
- Escalating patient queries and results to the clinical team for clinical response and management
- Organisation of procedures in negotiation with the clinical staff and patients as requested by the secretary supervisor.
This includes identifying potential dates with the clinical team, negotiation of dates with the patient and any additional co-ordination of staff, equipment, stock, facilities, external support (company representatives) and paperwork
- Ensuring that any vacant slots are fully utilised and acted upon, including informing the Booking Office, to maximise capacity
- Booking of translation services for patients when needed
Transcription
- Typing correspondence to patients, GPs, medical staff and any other required addressee following clinical attendance or other patient contacts using digital dictation or via Dragon voice recognition
- Typing detailed medical reports when necessary
- Handling DVLA forms ensuring they are completed and sent as appropriate
- Take and transcribe minutes as appropriate
- To delegate tasks as appropriate to the band 2 Clerical Assistant
Specialty specific support
- Regularly informing the secretarial supervisor about progress and flagging up as a matter of urgency any issues, for example, capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients, etc
- Liaising with external organisations for the benefit and progress of patient care, such as Social Services, other hospitals, etc
Service Improvement
- To ensure accurate recording of patient information / clinic activity for audit / survey purposes,
and undertake regular audits of data to support service improvement and decision making within the department
- Diary management, including arranging appointments, booking meetings and venues, as requested by the clinical team supervisor
- Support the development of improvements to working practices and processes and contribute to service reviews and the implementation of new arrangements.
- As directed, support the resolution of complaints or concerns from patients / carers by helping to collate information and work with the supervisor to respond or escalate appropriately.
Team-working
- To work as part of an Administrative Support Team working flexibly to ensure that administrative work is shared out equally and performed to excellent, efficient and safe standards
- To cover colleagues during absences / annual / sick leave as directed by the secretary supervisor. You may also be required to undertake job rotation for cross cover as well as for development and training purposes.
- Undertaking routine office duties including electronic note tracking, photocopying, faxing, filing of correspondence and results and maintenance of records in the absence of the band 2 clerical assistant.
- Assist in the training and induction for new and existing colleagues
- Take the initiative as and when required as well as working flexibly and adapting to the demands of the department / team as appropriate
- Liaise with relevant team members to ensure that any process changes run smoothly and efficiently.
Undertake any other appropriate duties commensurate with the role, as required at the request of your line manager.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to GCSE grade C or above (or equivalent) in literacy and numeracy
- IT experience of Microsoft Office packages
Desirable
- Typewriting / word processing RSA Level 3 or equivalent practical experience
- NVQ in Administration level 2
Experience
Essential
Appropriate experience in a hospital or office environment
Desirable
- Experience of working as a secretary
- Understanding and previous experience in medical terminology
Knowledge / Skills
Essential
- Able to prioritise own workload and that of others as appropriate
- Personally resilient and able to manage complexity and work in an ambiguous or changing environment
- Excellent presentational, communication and interpersonal skills
- IT capable to ensure proficient use of hospital computer systems
- Self-motivated and able to work under own initiative and prioritise workload