Medical Secretary (XN03)

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE/SUMMARY

To provide a comprehensive and high quality medical secretarial service to support clinical teams (Consultants, their medical teams e.g. junior medical staff or specialist nursing staff as appropriate) in delivering high quality care to the patients of Leeds and beyond. This role will additionally make a key contribution in improving the patient experience by supporting Directorate teams with the movement of patients through their 18-week pathway or other national waiting time standards as appropriate.

The post-holder will:

Work as part of a team to ensure that all clinical correspondence is turned around in a timely manner to allow patients to move through their pathway without any delays

Work with Consultants and their medical teams.

Manage their workload in line with departmental requirements or as identified by the Senior Medical Secretary.

Deal with patient enquiries.

Play a key role in ensuring that patients move systematically through their pathways by ensuring that the next steps are in the pipeline.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Clinical Correspondence & Support to Clinical Services

Typing/proof reading clinical correspondence relating to outpatient and inpatient attendances and other patient related correspondence on behalf of the consultant and clinical teams.

Use a range of IT skills to support the clinical work of the consultant e.g. use of databases and spread sheets.

Support administrative process as deemed appropriate by the PSC.

To support the clinical teams in the delivery of excellent patient care by actively working with colleagues and other Departments to ensure that all patients registered within the service are proactively supported through their patient journey (This would include but is not limited to: ensuring that follow-up and/or discharge appointments have been made for patients when required escalating to the Patient Services Co-ordinator where appointments have been booked outside the requested timescales).

Any other general administrative duties associated with the consultant/clinical team outpatient and inpatient workload.

Answer phone calls and deal with enquiries relating to patients and clinical work from a variety of sources, directly resolving where possible or transferring to appropriate personnel.

Liaise with GPs, hospital staff and others on behalf of consultant in relation to clinical workload.

Maintaining an effective administration service

In conjunction with other Team Medical Secretaries and under the supervision of the Patient Services Co to work collectively as a team proactively planning workloads to meet different deadlines and timescales.

Create and maintain appropriate record systems relating to clinical workload e.g. tests and results spread sheets

Provide guidance to clerical support officers as necessary.

Ensure that health records are tracked on entering and leaving the Department and stored in an appropriate manner in line with Trust Policy and patient confidentiality.

Ensure that health records are maintained to a high standard at all times. All documentation and investigation results must be securely filed in the correct section in chronological order. Support Data Quality Indicators by ensuring that patient information is accurate and updated on relevant paper and computerised systems.

Access information systems to obtain clinical information as required by the medical teams including investigation results or other information e.g. from results server, PPM or WinDIP.

Work as part of the team to ensure that all phone calls are answered within the department during core office hours.

Provide information to PSC/Assistant PSC, as appropriate, relating to workload and work outstanding.

Provide cover for other team secretaries/clerical staff when on annual leave or sick leave.

Additional duties

Any other duties that from time to time may be deemed necessary by the Trust/Directorates that is commensurate to the role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Audio typing/Word Processing Skills RSA II or equivalent experience
• GCSE Grade C or above (or equivalent e.g. AMSPAR Level 2) in English and Maths

Experience

Essential

• Secretarial experience
• Using Microsoft office packages including word, excel and PowerPoint
• Prioritising and managing workload to meet deadlines
• Use of patient information systems, such as PAS.
• A broad understanding of medical terminology and its use within clinical correspondence
• Understanding of customer care principles.
• Knowledge and application of the Data Protection Act in relation to patient confidentiality and the appropriate care of patient information.
• Using patient information systems such as PAS (essential) and PPM (desirable) or the ability to quickly develop this knowledge in a short time frame. In some specific cases additional system knowledge

Desirable

• Liaising with a variety of sources to provide information when required
• Previous healthcare experience
• Use of PPM and other department-relevant systems e.g. Mosaic
• Understanding of relevant Trust standards and other NHS waiting time standards e.g. 5-day turnaround of clinical correspondence, 18-week wait for patients
• Dealing with internal and external enquiries originating from a variety of sources including but not limited to: staff in other Departments, patients, staff in GP surgeries (desirable)

Skills & Behaviours

Essential

• Adaptability and willingness to learn skills associated with the role as may be required Interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work as part of a team.
• Use of tact, diplomacy and sensitivity with wide range of people and in various situations.
• Ability to deal with enquiries in an appropriate and supportive manner.
• Prioritising and managing workload to meet deadlines (essential)
• Ability to deal with sensitive and emotive information.
• Interpersonal and communication skills.
• Understanding of customer care principles.

Other

Essential

• Organisational skills and time management.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF

Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)