Job responsibilities
Purpose of the Post
To provide a secretarial service to all GPs in the practice ensuring that the secretarial function is organised and performed to high standards of accuracy and efficiency and in the best interest of the Partners. Supporting the senior leadership team in any tasks / functions that help develop the practice and maintain or improve standards. Under the direction of the team lead, to organise and manage allocated workload and tasks, working effectively to achieve and maintain high standards.
The Post holder will always show respect and regard to confidentiality of patient information.
In addition to this, it is essential that:
Patient enquiries are efficiently and courteously handled
Distribution of documents is undertaken efficiently and promptly
Dimensions:
Marsden Medical Group operates from two purpose-built buildings Marsden Road Health Centre and Wawn Street Surgery serving 22785 patients. There are currently 8 Partners, 11 Salaried GPs We are a training practice with Doctors in Training and Medical Students, 15 nurses, with an admin support staff of 28.
Prime Responsibilities
- Transcribing of patient correspondence to a variety of external organisations including use of the NHS E-referral process and audio typing, proformas, tasks within the clinical IT system, and Microsoft word.
- Process and action referrals in line with practice procedures, priority markings and agreed timescales
- Address queries promptly.
- To assist in the administration of all relevant non-NHS work (for example, insurance reports, medicals, etc).
- Keep a record of such requests in the patient's medical records
- Maintain a spreadsheet log of payments received, in line with practice procedures
Forwarding clinical IT system tasks received from external organisations to the relevant internal practice teams.
Promptly relay any urgent messages to the duty doctor in line with practice procedures.
Under the guidance of the meeting organiser, to administer the agenda / agenda items and minutes for in house meetings, including typing and distribution of minutes where necessary. To document task outcomes from these meetings and pass these on to the named person if not present.
Use approved software to support the preparation of medical records for thirdparty requests, in line with practice procedures, referring any uncertainties or exceptions to a senior colleague or clinician
Accept relevant patient enquiries by telephone and face to face at reception
Be competent in the use of all office equipment and software
Run prebuilt clinical system searches at predetermined timeframes and perform standard specified actions within the specified timeframe
Attend safeguarding administration meetings as required and complete designated administrative updates to the safeguarding dashboard under the direction of the safeguarding lead / senior team.
Under the supervision of the safeguarding leads, record safeguarding information in patient records and notify the relevant clinicians, in line with practice procedures.
Knowledge Skills, Training and Experience:
Theoretical and practical knowledge
Keyboard skills to an intermediate standard with accurate audio and copy typing.
General Computer skills
Ability to recognise and accurately type medical terminology and drug names (understanding of terms can be developed on the job).
Pleasant, helpful and effective telephone manner
Competence in written and spoken English
Professional or Specialist Knowledge
- Using clinical IT systems and standardised practice codes / templates to ensure consistent recording in patient notes.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Word Excel
Analytical
You will be required to follow established procedures and use basic judgement to support patients and staff, referring more complex or non routine issues to senior colleagues as appropriate.
- Respond to routine patient enquiries in line with practice procedures and protocols
- Recognise when issues require escalation and refer appropriately to clinicians or senior staff
Work is planned and allocated by the team lead in line with practice priorities and service demands. The post holder will be expected to organise their day to day tasks accordingly, following agreed procedures and timescales, and to highlight any issues or capacity concerns to the team lead.
- Organise and manage allocated tasks effectively in line with team priorities and practice procedures
- Support the team lead by maintaining an overview of assigned work and escalating any delays, problems or capacity issues appropriately
Communication and Relationship Skills:
You will be expected to provide and receive routine information which may require a certain amount of tact or persuasive skills. For example, chasing up hospital appointments and given out appropriate information to patients regarding these. You will encounter patients with problems (i.e. elderly, hard of hearing, mentally ill) and you will be expected to deal with each patient with sensitivity, tact and understanding.
Key Result Areas
Patient Care
You will be expected to provide general non clinical signposting directly to patients, relatives or carers, working within practice policy and procedures. Referring non-routine or complex queries to the appropriate clinician or senior staff member.
Provide information
Take and relaying messages
Policy and Service Development:
There are policies and procedures covering all aspects of your job, you are expected to follow these effectively and efficiently taking on board any changes as they are reviewed by the senior team.
- Follow policies in own role
- Follow Health and Safety Policies
Financial and Physical Resources:
This post has a degree of responsibility as below
- Responsible for safe use of office equipment
- Entering data through the clinical system
Human Resources:
- When requested by the team lead, demonstrate specific tasks to new or less experienced staff, based on own training and in line with practice procedures.
Information Resources:
This post involves data entry onto the clinical system and word processing. This should be done accurately and with care always following the practice procedures.
- Entering data through relevant services
- Standard coding of referrals
- Transcribing information
- Use of email and internet
Research and Development:
None in this post
Freedom to Act
Work is undertaken in line with established practice policies and procedures, under the direction of the team lead. The post holder is expected to raise any concerns or issues promptly with their line manager or appropriate senior staff.
Physical
A combination of sitting, walking and frequent requirement for sitting in a restricted position for long periods of time. This post entails a significant amount of computer work; therefore good keyboard skills are essential.
Mental
Frequent amounts of concentration are required where the work pattern is predictable. Concentration is required when typing / transcribing referrals, a certain amount of concentration will be required when dealing with patient queries to understand the nature of patient queries and ensure these are responded to or escalated appropriately. There may be interruptions to work.
Emotional
Occasional exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances when typing referrals of a distressing nature or typing a medical document.
Working Conditions
Good working conditions, there is a kitchen / staff room where staff have their breaks. Workstations are adequate and clean. However, there may be occasional exposure to unpleasant conditions:
Continuous screen use.
