Medical Secretary - Obsteterics & Gynaecology

Job overview

The role of the Medical Secretary is to provide a comprehensive secretarial, administration and information service to the Consultant in respect of his/her NHS work and to the supporting medical team.

To provide a secretarial service: accurately producing from digital dictation system, patient related correspondence /reports/discharges of a sensitive and complex nature, using appropriate software and within specific timescales

Main duties of the job

• Open and prioritise correspondence (which is often of a highly sensitive and confidential nature) on behalf of consultant ensuring that urgent correspondence receives prompt attention.
• Process case-notes of patients discharged from hospital; follow through ongoing care plans as indicated in notes. Allocate notes to relevant clinician for dictation or ensure that any standard letters are completed as appropriate. Where standard letters have been generated at ward level, ascertain from case-notes whether any supplementary letter/action is required and deal with appropriately. Ensure that follow up appointments or referrals to other specialties are arranged where necessary.
• Ensure that relevant investigation/ results received after patient’s discharge are communicated to GP’s where appropriate, particularly where treatment may be required.
• Ensure that discharge summaries and other time-sensitive information are dictated and typed within the designated time limits.
• Receive, manage and prioritise telephone and personal queries, complaints, messages and information from patients, relatives, General Practitioners, Consultants and other medical staff and external organisations on behalf of consultant and clinical team. Deal with queries relating to the medical and social welfare of patients and relatives in a sensitive manner, referring to medical staff or other Healthcare Professionals where appropriate.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Respond to queries from patients and Healthcare personnel as appropriate. Provide empathy and reassurance to patients where necessary.
• Manage patient investigation results. Check all incoming laboratory/radiology results, ensuring that abnormal results are communicated promptly to appropriate Clinician. Ensure all reports are seen and signed by Clinician prior to filing in case-notes.
• Participate in the training and supervision of Support Medical Secretaries, Medical Audio Typists and work experience students, which will involve planning and allocation of work, and checking of letters produced for accuracy, as appropriate
• Undertake self-supervision and effective self-organisation in terms of:
• co-ordinating annual and other leave in co-operation with other secretaries, and with the approval of management;
• liaising with other secretaries to ensure fair distribution of work by mutual assistance;
• Establish and maintain efficient office systems, including filing systems and maintain a booking out and/or booking in system for case-notes.
• Liaise with Admissions Department in respect of patients requiring hospital admission, ensuring that relevant information or instructions are communicated effectively. Ensure that all relevant investigations are available prior to admission and in particular that any problem with the potential to delay admission/surgery is brought to the urgent attention of the relevant clinician (may be necessary to liaise with or organise input of other Clinicians prior to admission (eg anaesthetic assessment) or to co-ordinate arrangements where procedures require multidisciplinary input)
• Maintain confidentiality at all times, ensuring that information is only divulged to authorised sources and by appropriate means.
• Input and extract data from hospital systems and other relevant software programmes, which may be Trust-wide or specialty-specific.