Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Medical Secretary to join the Cardiology Department at the University Hospital Birmingham.
This is an exciting opportunity for an individual who relishes a challenge and is keen to use their own initiative. You will be required to work to a high standard of accuracy and be able to demonstrate initiative in planning your own workload in a way that supports the consultant and wider team. The successful post holder should have a proactive and friendly attitude and be able to demonstrate substantial administrative experience and be able to meet the main duties of the role as identified in the job description. You must possess excellent organisational skills and be experienced in dealing with confidential information.
The successful candidate will have a good standard of English and Maths and ideally possess an AMSPAR/medical terminology qualification/RSA III qualification (or equivalent). Previous secretarial & audio typing experience are essential. The candidate should also be able to demonstrate confidence in using MS Office as well as other IT systems.
This post is full time (37.5 hours) and fixed-term (12 months maternity leave cover).
Informal enquiries and/or visits are welcome via Shannon Elliott, Cardiology Team Leader on 0121 371 46722 or via email.
Main duties of the job
- To be responsible for the organisation of meetings, preparation of agendas and taking of minutes
- To touch type from audio and / or shorthand the following documents: This requires an understanding of medical terminology, phraseology and medications
- To draft letters on behalf of the Consultants in a sympathetic but easily understandable manner
- To provide a point of contact for GPs and other Health Care Professionals and also patients/relatives/carers
- To understand the patient pathway and provide information and reassurance in a professional manner. Deal with queries and instigate appropriate action
- To organise and maintain theatre schedule adding patients to lists and ensuring patients are seen for pre-operative assessment and admission for operations and tests as appropriate
To provide day to day supervision to secretaries/clerical officers, allocating and monitoring work on a daily basis
- To manage and progress and chase results of patient investigations on a daily basis
- To assist with the collection and provision of statistical data as required by the health professionals
- To be responsible for informing the relevant individuals of any Consultant or member of the medical team's leave
- To liaise with medical records with regard to availability of medical notes for forthcoming clinics
- To handle cheques/donations and be responsible for forwarding to the appropriate Trust Fund
- To develop and maintain an efficient individual filing system on behalf of the Consultant
About us
We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.
Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:
Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.
UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.
University Hospitals Birmingham is a Smoke-Free premises hospital.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication:
- Provide excellent telephone skills. Accurately record telephone messages and other enquiries and refer as appropriate
- To provide a point of contact for patients/relatives/carers, GPs and other Health Care Professionals who can be emotional and highly distressed, ensuring that any language or other communication barriers are overcome
- Provide effective communication and problem solving both face to face and via telephone
- Be sympathetic and sensitive to the requirements of staff, service users when communicating by telephone or face to face, including dealing with difficult situations
- Attend admin team / departmental meetings on a regular basis. Contribute to building effective teamwork in exchanging views, ideas and communicating effectively
Analytical and Judgemental Skills/Freedom to Act:
- Ability to make decisions and take actions relating to enquiries
- Ability to recognise situations that should be referred onto the Line Manager and take prompt and appropriate action
- To sort, distribute and prioritise incoming mail, using judgement and experience to decide which documents require urgent action and which may be passed directly to other areas for action
Planning and Organisational Skills:
- To manage and progress results of patient investigations and on receipt, prioritise and action according to clinical need, with guidance from the medical team
- Organise own day-to-day work tasks showing an ability to prioritise in order to achieve set timescales
- Prioritise own work load to meet the needs the service user
- Arrange and prioritise meetings and case conferences as appropriate
- Arrange meetings as and when required
Policy and Service Responsibilities:
- Work collaboratively as part of an integrated team
- Work within and keep up to date with National and Trust legislation, guidelines, policies, procedures, protocols and code of conduct and ensure they are adhered the across the team
- Participate in and contribute to the effective introduction of new systems and initiatives leading to the improvement and development of patient services
Responsibility for Financial and Physical Resources:
- Have a personal duty of care for all equipment and resources used
- Maintain stock control of stationery / clinical supplies
Responsibility for Staff:
- Day to day supervision of secretaries/clerical officer, allocating and monitoring work on a daily basis
- Participate in the induction and training of all new members of staff
- Demonstrate own activities to new / less experienced staff
Responsibility for Information:
- To liaise with medical records with regard to availability of medical notes for forthcoming clinics, ensuring where possible, all results/correspondence are available for the patient's clinic appointment
- To develop and maintain an efficient individual filing system on behalf of the team to include correspondence, reports, complaints, research and results
- Be responsible for confidentiality in line with Trust policy and procedures
- Accurately input data/confidential data using a variety of Trust IT systems in a timely way
- Prepare and scan information onto the Trust IT systems
- Ensure all information held is kept up to date
- Be responsible for the quality of information, photocopy and distribute documents as required
- Shred and destroy confidential documentation in line with Trust policy
- Provide information / produce basic routine reports at an appropriate level under supervision
- Input staff information into the Electronic Staff Record adhering to confidentiality and only accessing the information required to fulfil the role /task
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication:
- Provide excellent telephone skills. Accurately record telephone messages and other enquiries and refer as appropriate
- To provide a point of contact for patients/relatives/carers, GPs and other Health Care Professionals who can be emotional and highly distressed, ensuring that any language or other communication barriers are overcome
- Provide effective communication and problem solving both face to face and via telephone
- Be sympathetic and sensitive to the requirements of staff, service users when communicating by telephone or face to face, including dealing with difficult situations
- Attend admin team / departmental meetings on a regular basis. Contribute to building effective teamwork in exchanging views, ideas and communicating effectively
Analytical and Judgemental Skills/Freedom to Act:
- Ability to make decisions and take actions relating to enquiries
- Ability to recognise situations that should be referred onto the Line Manager and take prompt and appropriate action
- To sort, distribute and prioritise incoming mail, using judgement and experience to decide which documents require urgent action and which may be passed directly to other areas for action
Planning and Organisational Skills:
- To manage and progress results of patient investigations and on receipt, prioritise and action according to clinical need, with guidance from the medical team
- Organise own day-to-day work tasks showing an ability to prioritise in order to achieve set timescales
- Prioritise own work load to meet the needs the service user
- Arrange and prioritise meetings and case conferences as appropriate
- Arrange meetings as and when required
Policy and Service Responsibilities:
- Work collaboratively as part of an integrated team
- Work within and keep up to date with National and Trust legislation, guidelines, policies, procedures, protocols and code of conduct and ensure they are adhered the across the team
- Participate in and contribute to the effective introduction of new systems and initiatives leading to the improvement and development of patient services
Responsibility for Financial and Physical Resources:
- Have a personal duty of care for all equipment and resources used
- Maintain stock control of stationery / clinical supplies
Responsibility for Staff:
- Day to day supervision of secretaries/clerical officer, allocating and monitoring work on a daily basis
- Participate in the induction and training of all new members of staff
- Demonstrate own activities to new / less experienced staff
Responsibility for Information:
- To liaise with medical records with regard to availability of medical notes for forthcoming clinics, ensuring where possible, all results/correspondence are available for the patient's clinic appointment
- To develop and maintain an efficient individual filing system on behalf of the team to include correspondence, reports, complaints, research and results
- Be responsible for confidentiality in line with Trust policy and procedures
- Accurately input data/confidential data using a variety of Trust IT systems in a timely way
- Prepare and scan information onto the Trust IT systems
- Ensure all information held is kept up to date
- Be responsible for the quality of information, photocopy and distribute documents as required
- Shred and destroy confidential documentation in line with Trust policy
- Provide information / produce basic routine reports at an appropriate level under supervision
- Input staff information into the Electronic Staff Record adhering to confidentiality and only accessing the information required to fulfil the role /task
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Maths and English GCSE, A*-C/9-4
- Business Administration NVQ level 3 or equivalent experience in a clerical environment
- AMSPAR Certificate/equivalent qualification or equivalent knowledge of medical terminology
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a Medical Secretary
- Experience of dealing with the public/customer service experience
- Experience of working with a range of Microsoft Office packages
- Experience of using IT systems
- Experience of working in a healthcare environment
- Good organisational skills
- Able to use own initiative and deal with the unpredictable
- Able to work under pressure and to multi-task
- Able to work to deadlines
Additional Criteria
Essential
- Good communication / customer care skills both written and verbal demonstrating sympathy and compassion
- Ability to deal professionally with enquiries from staff, patients and visitors
- Understand confidentiality and apply the principles in everyday working practice
- Ability to pay attention to detail where there are predictable interruptions to the work pattern
- Ability to deal with stressful situations and sensitive issues
- Work effectively and flexibly as part of a team to meet the needs of the services
- Confident in dealing with people at all levels
- Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of equality and diversity
- Mature open and flexible approach to work
- Ability to travel to multiple sites
- Demonstrates reliability, motivation and commitment
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Maths and English GCSE, A*-C/9-4
- Business Administration NVQ level 3 or equivalent experience in a clerical environment
- AMSPAR Certificate/equivalent qualification or equivalent knowledge of medical terminology
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a Medical Secretary
- Experience of dealing with the public/customer service experience
- Experience of working with a range of Microsoft Office packages
- Experience of using IT systems
- Experience of working in a healthcare environment
- Good organisational skills
- Able to use own initiative and deal with the unpredictable
- Able to work under pressure and to multi-task
- Able to work to deadlines
Additional Criteria
Essential
- Good communication / customer care skills both written and verbal demonstrating sympathy and compassion
- Ability to deal professionally with enquiries from staff, patients and visitors
- Understand confidentiality and apply the principles in everyday working practice
- Ability to pay attention to detail where there are predictable interruptions to the work pattern
- Ability to deal with stressful situations and sensitive issues
- Work effectively and flexibly as part of a team to meet the needs of the services
- Confident in dealing with people at all levels
- Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of equality and diversity
- Mature open and flexible approach to work
- Ability to travel to multiple sites
- Demonstrates reliability, motivation and commitment
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
