Trust Medical Secretary - Thoracic Surgery

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to join the General Surgery Department.  We are recruiting a Medical Secretary to join an established team within Thoracic Surgery, working alongside administrative, medical and nursing teams. The role will support Thoracic nurses and Thoracic surgeons with their day-to-day management of clinics, theatres and provide an effective administration service.

The successful candidate will be expected to have excellent communication and organisational skills. They will have the ability to manage and prioritise workloads accordingly, as well as work as part of the wider team. They should have recent medical secretarial/administration experience.  A high level of attention to detail and accuracy and an understanding of patient confidentiality is essential. As well as working experience with in-house I.T systems and programs which enable patient pathway progression.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will act as point of contact for all communication between consultants, patients, relatives and a wide range of multi-disciplinary staff. The team will also work closely with General Practitioners and outside agencies which requires the utmost professionalism. They will assist in the management of office administration and provide an effective secretarial service, ensuring continuity of service across the specialty.

As a department we support the delivery of a high quality, safe and compassionate healthcare service, all staff are expected to act as a role model to others in all aspects of their work and consistently demonstrate NNUH’s ‘PRIDE’ values of People focused, Respect, Dedication, Integrity and Excellence.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Deal efficiently and effectively with direct and indirect (i.e. telephone, face to face) enquiries from patients, all levels of medical and nursing staff, GPs, Social Services and other health professionals and staff.  Respond to enquiries, providing routine and non-routine information and non-clinical advice, resolving problems where possible.  Communicate appropriately with patients who may be fearful, aggressive or have sensitive concerns needing reassurance and who may present difficulties in communication e.g. terminally ill patients, deaf patients, mentally ill patients and elderly confused patients.
• Attend to all communications, for example, emails, faxes, investigation results on a daily basis and prioritising and actioning as required.
• Accurately transcribe all correspondence by touch typing from audio / digital dictation or shorthand using knowledge of medical terminology.  Generate routine and non-routine correspondence independently.
• Assist patients and their Carers by arranging translation/interpretation facilities.
• Demonstrate and maintain knowledge and understanding of Trust RTT policy.
• Update RTT in accordance with Trust guidelines. Assist the  Administration and Clerical team with data management utilising PAS and other departmental patient databases.
• Complete the Tertiary referral proforma/template for internal/external referrals as per Trust policy
• Promptly action clinical investigations, results and outcomes. Utilise Trust reports to service and administer waiting lists, which may include outpatient, inpatient and waiting lists as required in local work area, escalating to senior staff as required.
• Adding patients to waiting lists as requested taking into account the urgency of the case and the patient’s preference.
• Arrange urgent admissions direct from clinic and ambulatory care areas, contacting the patient and liaising with ward/theatre/clinics as required.
• Support meetings with minute taking as necessary.
• Maintain diaries as appropriate.

Please see the attached job description for full details.

Please note that this advertised position, which is part of occupation code 4211 does not meet the UKVI eligibility requirements for a Skilled Worker Visa (this includes if you are already in a sponsored post and looking to change employer). The Trust would not be able to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for this role.