Job responsibilities
Clinical Responsibilities
- In accordance with the Practice timetable, as agreed, the post-holder will make him/her-self available to undertake a variety of duties including surgery consultations, telephone & video consultations and queries, visiting patients at home, checking and signing repeat prescriptions and dealing with queries, paperwork and correspondence in a timely fashion including a regular duty doctor day
- Making professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation
- Assessing the health care needs of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed problems
- Screening patients for disease risk factors and early signs of illness
- In consultation with patients and in line with current Practice disease management protocols, developing care plans for health
- Providing counselling and health education
- Admitting or discharging patients to and from the caseload and referring to other care providers as appropriate
- Recording clear and contemporaneous consultation notes to agreed standards
- Collecting data for audit purposes
- Compiling and issuing computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions (avoiding hand-written prescriptions whenever possible)
- Prescribing in accordance with the Practice prescribing formulary (or generically) whenever this is clinically appropriate
- In general the post-holder will be expected to undertake all the normal duties and responsibilities associated with a GP working within primary care including extended access provision.
Administrative Responsibilities within the Organisation
- Awareness of and compliance with all relevant Practice policies/guidelines, e.g. prescribing, confidentiality, data protection, health and safety
- A commitment to life-long learning and audit to ensure evidence-based best practice
- Contributing to evaluation/audit and clinical standard setting within the organisation
- Contributing to the development of computer-based patient records
- Contributing to the summarising of patient records and Read-Coding patient data
- Attending training and events organised by the Practice or other agencies where appropriate.
Responsibilities with regard to Confidentiality
- In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
- In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, Practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the Practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
- Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
Responsibilities with regard to Equality and Diversity
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:
- Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with Practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
- Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
- Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
Health & Safety
The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Policy, to include:
Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
Reporting potential risks identified
Personal/Professional Development
In addition to maintaining continued education through attendance at any courses and/or study days necessary to ensure that professional development requirements are met, the post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the Practice as part of this employment, such training to include:
- Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
- Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
Communication
The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
Communicate effectively with other team members
Communicate effectively with patients and carers
Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.