P/T Medical Secretary-Paediatrics (15 hours Mon/Tues) Fixed Term

Job overview

We are looking to recruit a highly motivated and enthusiastic person with administration experience to join our team within the Paediatric Department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.

This is a fixed-term post for 6 months and forms part of a job-share arrangement. The successful candidate will be required to work Monday and Tuesday, 9am–5pm (15 hours per week). Due to the job-share arrangement, these working days and hours are fixed and cannot be changed. Applicants must therefore be able to commit to this working pattern.

Main duties of the job

• Dealing with telephone queries, checking patient information with clerical staff / patients. - Communicating information verbally and in writing, with patients and staff, may be barriers to understanding for example anxious patients, cultural differences, language or communication difficulties. - To communicate effectively at all levels (e.g consultants and other clinicians, GP practices and other departments/directorates or relevant outside agencies) as appropriate in a timely and effective manner. - Providing and receiving complex and/ or sensitive information, exchanging information and advise with consultants, wider clinical team, patients, relatives and other staff/ departments. - Resolves problems, e.g. locating notes, appointment issues, patient queries, follow up actions when responding to queries, escalating issues when necessary - Exercising judgement when dealing with complex and sensitive enquiries from all service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Provide a comprehensive secretarial service to consultants and wider clinical team to meet internal and external standards/performance indicators

Oversee patient pathways by managing Open Referrals within Careflow

Provides support to identified consultants and wider clinical team: organising the consultant’s clinical, academic, and professional commitments by managing diaries; support with software systems, organising meetings, leave & associated cover / cancellations for teaching, training, performance and induction activities.

Support Admin / Waiting list Manager with patient pathway (RTT, Diagnostics and Cancer) progress for nominated consultants; monitoring progress and following up activity (e.g. investigations), arranging inter provider referral & transfer of information and investigating potential breaches identified by the Waiting List Manager.

Oversee the smooth running of clinics; managing and maximising capacity, cancellations & rescheduling, arranging additional clinics and urgent patient appointments (< 1 week) within patient pathway requirements and Service Level Agreements.

Main point of contact for patient and third parties (e.g. other consultants/ clinicians, GP, police, social care, legal) often having to deal with sensitive and complex information to resolve queries, respond to requests for information or notify third party of information as required by consultants.

Provide information to assist performance reporting and resolution of queries or complaints (e.g. INPHASE) as required.

To provide a service for the transcription and typing of communications, reports and correspondence, often of a sensitive and confidential nature in line with trust contracted timescales across the relevant service line through appropriate prioritisation delegation and supervision.

To communicate effectively at all levels in a timely and effective manner providing and receiving complex, sensitive and contentious information using a high level of interpersonal and communication skills.

Ensure that all urgent test results / correspondence is brought to the immediate attention of the Consultant and / or clinical team.

Facilitate meeting availability, organise, MDT/Professional/ other meetings as requested by the consultant.

Be responsible for own professional development by keeping up to date with mandatory training, attending regular admin meetings as facilitated by the Administration Manager, and attending annual appraisals.

Provide cross-cover for secretarial team during periods of leave or sickness.

Taking and transcribing of formal minutes and distributing these appropriately, undertaking any administrative follow-up actions as required.

Any other adhoc tasks as per Admin Manager.

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.