ENT Medical Secretary

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Medical Secretary to join the ENT team based at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. The successful applicant will become an integral part of an efficient team providing secretarial support to the ENT Surgeons.

The post holder will need to have excellent typing and interpersonal skills, the ability to meet challenging deadlines, and maintain standards relating to administrative processes, with the ability to exercise initiative, operating within procedural guidelines and to plan ahead and prioritise workload in response to changing demands.

You should be able to demonstrate that you live our Trust values of teamwork, honesty, respect, inclusivity, valuing people and excellence.

If you have any queries about this role please contact [email protected]

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for providing a comprehensive medical secretarial service to the Consultant and the Consultant’s team. The medical secretary will be instrumental of the smooth running of the office and will need to work without supervision, using their initiative when dealing with enquiries that arise in the absence of the Consultant, to bring about a successful outcome. The post holder must be willing to work for other Consultants within the directorate. The post also demands the ability to communicate at all levels with patient, relative, medical colleagues and allied health professionals and maintain a high standard of service to meet the needs of the patient.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This job description reflects the present requirements and objectives of the post. As the duties of the post change and develop, the job description will be reviewed and will be subject to amendment, in consultation with the post holder.

You are required to disclose any additional work you undertake or are planning to undertake for another employer.

• Work is managed rather than supervised. Act independently to plan, manage and prioritise own workload
• Knowledge and understanding through experience of sound office and secretarial practices. To organise and manage an efficient/effective filing system, thus ensuring all office practices are up-to-date and functional.  Photocopying of relevant information
• Extensive key board skills including, touch and audio typing. Knowledge of software programmes (Microsoft Word, Outlook and hospital database).
• Appropriate knowledge and understanding of medical terms and procedures
• To provide the first point of contact for all written and telephone enquires on behalf of the Consultant and his/her team, using judgement to establish validity and priority of the contact
• Endeavour to meet urgent deadlines e.g. Complaints, police reports, medical reports and other external organisations, ensuring patient confidentiality is maintained
• To carry out reasonable requests made by the Consultant and Line Manager to whom you will be responsible
• To deal with telephone calls, faxes, emails and take appropriate action as required. Provide non-clinical information to patients about admissions and appointments.  Reassuring patients who are worried about test results
• Telephone calls should be dealt with in a sensitive and tactful manner especially when liasing with distressed, angry or confused patients/relatives
• On receipt of test/investigation results, retrieve relevant patients notes and alert Consultant/Consultant’s team of any urgent or abnormal test results ensuring that relevant action is taken
• Ensure that results and correspondence are up-to-date in the notes as far as is practicable
• To ensure that all correspondence produced by the Department, including clinic letters, discharge summaries and administrative letters are typed and dispatched promptly to the referring Consultant/GP. This may involve reading reports over the telephone
• Act independently to sort, distribute and prioritise incoming mail, using judgement and experience to decide which documents are to be passed to the Consultant and which may be passed directly to other areas for action and information, thus using own initiative
• Obtain and collect hospital case notes and x-rays as requested by consultant and team and use Evolve electronic patient record as required to fulfil duties effectively
• Frequently utilise iPM for patient enquiries and data entry.
• Order and maintain non stock equipment and stationary for the office
• To make appointments, maintain diary and manage arrangements within the office for Consultant. This will necessitate the post holder being able to prioritise certain areas of the Consultant’s time
• Provide statistical information as required
• Notify relevant departments of Consultant/Junior Staff’s annual/study leave and any changes to his/her outpatient clinics or theatre schedules
• To liase, when necessary, with Clinic Clerks in advising patients of appointments
• To ensure referrals from other Consultants and GP’s are dealt with in a prompt manner
• Organise and support (including minute teaking) regular/ad hoc meetings as required. Ensure relevant equipment for meetings is available and order food if necessary
• Assist colleagues in providing a reasonable level of cover for the work of absent secretaries when necessary
• Liase with other hospitals regarding referrals and appointments
• Retrieve, type, prioritise order and distribute theatre lists to all relevant departments/staff. Liasing with staff and arranging emergency operative procedures added to theatre list at short notice.  Communicating accurate information to the admissions department regarding the patient and their surgical procedure
• To liaise with patients and/or medical and nursing staff to arrange transport when required
• Concentration is required when transcribing a tape, typing a complicated medical document, or arranging admission/appointments. There are frequent interruptions by the telephone and/or staff entering the office to make inquiries, but these do not cause a change of task