Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Support Medical Secretary

The closing date is 09 November 2025

Job summary

The Community & Clinical Support Services at Ormskirk Hospital site are looking to appoint support medical secretaries to provide a comprehensive service with the minimum of supervision to specialities within the division. The successful candidate would be required to type clinical correspondence from audio across both medical and surgical specialities.

1 x 15 hour per week Support Medical Secretary - to work Thursday and Friday each week based at Ormskirk Hospital

2 x 30 hour per week Support Medical Secretaries - days/hours to be discussed at interview and can be worked at either Southport or Ormskirk Hospital sites.

Main duties of the job

Applicants must have a sound knowledge of medical terminology and ideally qualified to at least RSA level 3 / OCR typing and word processing or equivalent. AMSPAR certification is desirable. You must be proficient in the use of audio typing and Microsoft Office packages. Training on in-house systems will be provided.

You will need to be able to work to tight deadlines and withstand the pressure of working for a busy team. It is essential you are able to work on your own initiative.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Date posted

30 October 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 3

Salary

£24,937 to £26,598 a year pro rata, per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

409-7351467

Job locations

Ormskirk District General Hospital

Wigan Road

Ormskirk

L39 2AZ

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key duties:

Working as part of a support medical secretary team to support the clinical workforce

Typing of clinical correspondence using digital/audio systems

Work across both medical and surgical specialities to ensure typing targets are met

Provide support to the medical secretaries as required. The post holder will carry out the duties in such a way as to make a direct and positive contribution to the organisation of the workload

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key duties:

Working as part of a support medical secretary team to support the clinical workforce

Typing of clinical correspondence using digital/audio systems

Work across both medical and surgical specialities to ensure typing targets are met

Provide support to the medical secretaries as required. The post holder will carry out the duties in such a way as to make a direct and positive contribution to the organisation of the workload

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

NVQ III or equivalent experience
RSA II / III Typing or Word Processing
Knowledge of medical terminology
Audio typing

Desirable

AMSPAR Diploma
European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL)

Experience

Essential

Previous secretarial experience with knowledge of secretarial/administrative procedures and systems
Previous Medical Secretary experience
Knowledge of Data Protection

Desirable

Previous NHS experience
Knowledge of Microsoft Office Software Package

Skills

Essential

Able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, both internal and external
Ability to work as a member of a team
Excellent interpersonal skills
Flexible working approach
Ability to plan and organise own workload to meet targets
Customer Service skills

Other

Essential

Committed to self-development to meet the requirements of the role
Ability to concentrate for prolonged periods when transcribing medical audio dictation in a predictable work pattern
Ability to deal with distressed patients or relatives when answering telephone
Ability to cope with frequent indirect exposure to distressing or emotional situations in content of clinical correspondence
Continuous use of computer / keyboard
Use of trolleys to transport case notes
Continuous use of VDU
Working in an office environment

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

NVQ III or equivalent experience
RSA II / III Typing or Word Processing
Knowledge of medical terminology
Audio typing

Desirable

AMSPAR Diploma
European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL)

Experience

Essential

Previous secretarial experience with knowledge of secretarial/administrative procedures and systems
Previous Medical Secretary experience
Knowledge of Data Protection

Desirable

Previous NHS experience
Knowledge of Microsoft Office Software Package

Skills

Essential

Able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, both internal and external
Ability to work as a member of a team
Excellent interpersonal skills
Flexible working approach
Ability to plan and organise own workload to meet targets
Customer Service skills

Other

Essential

Committed to self-development to meet the requirements of the role
Ability to concentrate for prolonged periods when transcribing medical audio dictation in a predictable work pattern
Ability to deal with distressed patients or relatives when answering telephone
Ability to cope with frequent indirect exposure to distressing or emotional situations in content of clinical correspondence
Continuous use of computer / keyboard
Use of trolleys to transport case notes
Continuous use of VDU
Working in an office environment

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

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Ormskirk District General Hospital

Wigan Road

Ormskirk

L39 2AZ

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Ormskirk District General Hospital

Wigan Road

Ormskirk

L39 2AZ

Employer's website

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