Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
Our Medical Secretary will provide comprehensive and high-quality secretarial, administrative, and clerical support to the Rheumatology department, ensuring an effective and efficient service is delivered. They will support the Admin Team Leader to undertake change management and ensure that patients are treated with courtesy, dignity, and respect.
They will work with very little supervision, prioritising and managing their own workload on a day-to-day basis.
Main duties of the job
1. Ensure all results of tests and investigations are tracked effectively, shown to the relevant consultant promptly, and undertake appropriate action as instructed.
2. Independently deal with patient/carer telephone calls and enquiries in an efficient, sensitive, and confidential manner, exercising judgement to analyse and resolve any problems and referring on to the clinician as appropriate.
3. All clinic outcomes must be recorded accurately and complete or amend any that have not been done.
4. Maintain and check clinical diaries (both paper and electronic) against the published timetables, using discretion and initiative when arranging meetings and appointments for patients, relatives, and others.
5. Ensure that arrangements regarding medical staff leave and cover arrangements are circulated appropriately and that clinical activities are amended accordingly.
6. Take and transcribe formal minutes if required.
7. Open and act on correspondence received and bring to the attention of the clinician along with the medical notes.
8. Undertake a variety of office duties such as filing, opening and distributing post, photocopying, and moving and lifting of patient notes to ensure efficient and effective support to the department.
9. Plan and organise own workload efficiently and highlight any concerns to the Admin Team Leader.
10. Produce and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all aspects of the Medical Secretary role.
About us
The Rheumatology Department is based at Kitson Hall, Torbay Hospital. We work as a close multi-disciplinary team which consists of six Consultants, nursing staff, administrative team, and Specialist Registrars.
Job responsibilities
1. Work closely with all grades of clinical and administrative staff, along with other employees within the Trust. Liaise with patients, GPs, and other external agencies. This position requires empathy and tact when dealing with patients that may be angry or upset regarding any aspect of their care.
2. Review discharge summaries and ensure investigations/appointments are booked appropriately.
3. Train and support new/less experienced staff within the team.
4. Ensure that private, overseas, and Scottish/Welsh and Northern Irish patients for out/in-patients are identified and documented appropriately.
5. Support any Secretarial Assistants within the department in their role and ensure compliance with Standard Operating Procedures.
6. Communicate effectively in writing and verbally on a daily basis.
7. Ensure that all clinical and non-clinical correspondence is typed within local targets, using the Infoflex system (Audio and copy typing).
8. Ensure appropriate follow-up is actioned, i.e., outpatient appointments, investigations, patients added to waiting lists, referrals to other departments, etc.
9. Ensure that all results/reports/correspondence are filed in the hospital case notes in accordance with Health Records standards.
10. Provide cover for other members of the whole rheumatology team as required to ensure optimum efficiency of the department.
11. Identify areas for service improvement and support implementation.
12. Comply with the Trust's Patient Access Policy and Standard Operating Procedures.
13. Perform any other appropriate duties/tasks as requested by management.
14. Enter, monitor, and update all aspects of the Referral to Treatment (RTT) pathway events accurately and ensure Inter Provider Transfers (IPT) are completed and updated. Review statuses are to be updated at every patient interaction. Manage the e-referral worklists on a daily basis.
15. Use the relevant IT systems to register patients, respond to enquiries, make appointments, transfer medical records, input clinical letters, and care planning summaries, as required.
16. Minute taking in admin team meetings where deemed appropriate.
17. Compile staff meeting agendas.
18. Diary Management of specified clinical staff.
19. Action clinic changes, ensuring that all clinic forms have been actioned appropriately.
Person Specification
* Good standard of education (to include GCSE in Maths and English or equivalent).
* Typing at a level of speed & accuracy equivalent to 40 WPM.
* Proven secretarial and administrative experience.
* Good communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with patients, all grades of staff, and external contacts, both verbally and in writing.
* Ability to effectively use Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
* Medical Secretary/NHS experience.
* Understanding of Referral to Treatment Pathways.
* Knowledge and experience of the Trust patient administrative and information systems.
* Understanding of hospital policies and procedures including the Trust Access Policy.
* Proficient in the use of Internet/Intranet and email.
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.
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
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