General Practice Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

General Practice Assistants - GPAs Job Description

Job Title: General Practice Assistant - GPA

Reports to: Nurse Manager - Administrative Manager

Responsible to - Practice Manager

Job summary -

The GP assistant role is a blended role of administrative tasks and clinical tasks. Working under the direct supervision of the Nurse Manager and the Administrative Manager.

The GPA is employed by PartnersHealth, Rushcliffe GP federation, but working within the named GP practice.

The GPA will work strictly in accordance with specific practice guidelines and protocols, the GPA will support the smooth running of clinics by performing routine administrative and clinical tasks on behalf of the GP, and practice nurse. GPAs may be expected to deliver a combination of the following

- Arranging appointments, referrals, tests and follow up appointments of patients.

- Completing simple clinical observations /investigations as directed locally, such as dipstick urine, taking blood pressure, ECG, phlebotomy, simple wound management etc.

- Supporting the GP/practice nurse with immunisations/wound care.

- Preparing patients prior to going in to see the GP or practice nurse, taking a brief history and basic readings in readiness for their clinical appointment.

- Completing basic forms and core elements of some forms for the GP to approve and sign such as insurance forms, mortgage, benefits agency forms etc

- Explaining treatment procedures to patients.

-Helping the GP liaise with outside agencies e.g., getting an on-call doctor on the phone to ask advice or arrange admission while the GP can continue with their consultation(s).

- Extracting information from clinical letters that needs coding, adding this to patient notes. Supporting with QOF reviews.

- Participate in an annual individual performance review.

-Track and record evidence of their experience against the national competency framework.

-Inform their line manager or the lead GP of any concerns regarding their role and request professional development as needed.

-Be aware of their own professional boundaries and what to do when they are reached.

Main Duties and Responsibilities May Consist of the Following

Clinical

The post holder will complete simple clinical observations such as:

ECG

Phlebotomy

Take and record blood pressures, also pulse, respiratory rate, weight and MUST scores

Dip stick urine and perform urinary pregnancy testing

Support with immunisations / simple wound care

Chaperoning duties

Processing and management of laboratory samples requested by GPs/nurses

Cleaning and re-stocking GP consulting rooms

Preparing and maintaining environments and equipment before, during and after patient care interventions including assisting GPs during the performance of minor operations

Assisting in the assessment and surveillance of patients health and well-being

Assisting with the collection and collation of data on needs related to health and well-being

To perform any other tasks, considered appropriate to the role, within the skills of the post holder.

Explain treatment procedures to patients

Prepare patients prior to going to see the GP

Non-Clinical

The post holder will support the GP and the practice team by delivering the following:

Work closely with the work-flow team, sorting clinical post and prioritising this for the GP by extracting relevant information and coding this appropriately. The post holder will be expected to be able to read complex clinical correspondence with close care and attention and be familiar with the Practices clinical coding policy

Arranging appointments, referrals, tests and follow up appointments of patients

Read, code and action letters sent to the Practice

Ensure that patients medical records are maintained properly

Assisting with related coding tasks, such as managing data entries

Liaise with outside agencies to support the GP to focus on their patients, such as calling an ambulance, or arranging an admission

Completing (non-opinion) forms, preparing medical reports such as insurance reports, benefit agency forms. For other reports that require an opinion, the post-holder will complete as much basic data on the form before this is passed to the GP to finalise.

Support the Practice with QOF reviews and associated administrative tasks to ensure patients are recalled and coded appropriately.

Manage the Diary Entry / Practice Recall system to ensure patients are recalled for their LTC reviews.

Job Revision

This job description is subject to periodic revision, following discussion with the post holder.

Confidentiality

-While seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately

- In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential

- Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & Safety-

The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the practice Infection Control policy and published procedures. This will include (but will not be limited to)

- Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guideline.

-Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines

- Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangement.

- Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff

- Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice

- Ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols across the practice

- Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed, and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate

- Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process

- Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes

- Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities, wipes etc are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate.

- Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal

- Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management

- Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised

- Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers

- Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum twice annually)

-Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of workspace standards

- Waste management including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection

- Spillage control procedures, management and training

- Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance

- Maintenance of sterile environments

Equality and diversity-

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include-Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation

- Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues

- Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Person Specification

Commitment to Trust Values & Behaviours

Essential

• Must be able to demonstrate behaviours consistent with PartnersHealth values and behavioural standards

Communication & Relationship Skills

Essential

• Ability to work flexibly, supporting both clinical and administrative demands.
• Excellent organisation skills required along with ability to prioritise and work to very high standards of performance
• Able to work independently as well as part of a multi-disciplinary team utilising good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to remain calm when dealing with difficult or distressed people
• Knowledge of Primary Care Networks
• Demonstrate working with wider system partners such as social care, acute and community services.
• Experience of working with patient groups and voluntary sector

Planning & Organisational Skills

Essential

• Adaptable to changing working environment and service needs.
• Planning, organising and prioritising tasks, activities or programmes some of which may be urgent or ongoing.

Training, Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• GCSE/NVQ level 2 or equivalent
• Competence in Microsoft Office packages (Outlook, Word, Excel)

Desirable

• Health and social care certificate or GPA assistant certificate
• Experience working in a public sector, health or social care setting
• Phlebotomy, basic clinical skills experience
• SystmOne clinical system experience

Analytical and Judgement Skills

Essential

• Ability to apply basic clinical judgement, ie escalate appropriately to the appropriate clinician
• Have an understanding of mental health and wellbeing.

Desirable

• Ability to apply basic clinical judgement, ie escalate appropriately to the appropriate clinician
• Have an understanding of mental health and wellbeing.
• Have an understanding of recording and reporting significant events and incidents
• Experience of requesting investigations and interpret their findings in view of other clinical information as per guidelines within the acute setting.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

PartnersHealth

Address

East Bridgford Medical Centre

2 Butt Lane

East Bridgford

Nottingham

NG138NY

Employer's website

https://www.partnershealth.co.uk (Opens in a new tab)