General Practice Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Primary care networks (PCNs) form a key building block of the NHS long-term plan. Bringing general practices together to work at scale has been a policy priority for some years for a range of reasons, including improving the ability of practices to recruit and retain staff; to manage financial and estates pressures; to provide a wider range of services to patients and to more easily integrate with the wider health and care system.

While GP practices have been finding different ways of working together over many years for example in super-partnerships, federations, clusters and networks the NHS long-term plan and the new five-year frameworkfor the GP contract, published in January 2019, put a more formal structure around this way of working, but without creating new statutory bodies.

Since 1 July 2019, all except a handful of GP practices in England have come together in around 1,300 geographical networks covering populations of approximately 3050,000 patients. This size is consistent with the size of primary care homes, which exist in many places in the country, but much smaller than most GP federations. Around 50 networks, usually in very rural areas, will cover a population of less than 30,000, but most arebigger than 50,000.

(The Kings Fund, Primary Care Networks Explained, 1.7.19)

Sutton Borough

Sutton has a population of approximately 200000 residents registered to 23 practices and there are currently 4 Primary Care Networks each serving a population of approximately 50000 patients.

We are looking to recruit a General Practice (GP) Assistant which is a hybrid medical assistant

role where the focus is to support general practitioners in their day-to-day management of

patients. You will have the opportunity to complete the GPA skills training program which will take 6-9 months.

The successful candidate will be expected to support doctors in the smooth running of their

surgeries, by handling the routine administration and some basic clinical duties.

Purpose of the Role

General Practice Assistants (GPAs sometimes known as Medical Assistants) will support the GP(s) smooth running of clinics by performing the more routine administration and clinical tasks on behalf of the GP, freeing up their time to focus on patients.

Duties

• Sorting all clinical post and prioritising for the GP in terms of actions. Signposting some post to others such as clinical pharmacist etc.
• Extracting all information from clinical letters that needs coding and adding to notes
• Arranging appointments, referrals, tests and follow up appointments of patients
• Preparing patients prior to going in to see the GP, taking a brief history and basic readings in readiness for the GP appointment.
• Dipping urine, taking blood pressure, ECGs & phlebotomy
• Completing basic (non-opinion) 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)
• Support the GP with immunisations/wound care

Confidentiality

Whilst 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. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Data Protection

You must not at any time use the personal data held by the organisation for a purpose not described in the Register entry or disclose such data to a third party. If you are in any doubt regarding what you should or should not do in connection with the Data Protection Act then you must contact your line manager or appropriate senior lead at the time

Flexibility

This job description is not intended to be exhaustive. The post-holder will be expected to adopt a flexible attitude towards the duties outlined which may be subject to amendment at any time in consultation with the post-holder and in line with the needs of the organisations in which it works. The post holder may be required to fulfil other duties, as agreed with the PCN CDs, Business Manager, Partners and/or Practice Managers.

Health & Safety

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Policy, to include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
• Reporting potential risks identified.

Team working

• Assist in the supervision of other staff or learners where appropriate.
• Work with the PCN member practice teams to ensure delivery of services and programmes.
• Actively engage in the performance cycle to identify training and support requirements.

Equality and diversity

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of all those around them and to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises 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, other staff 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.

Personal & professional development

The Sutton Training Hub is aligned to our networks and works closely with all PCNs and practices to offer comprehensive training and development opportunities to all practice and PCN staff. This includes study days, LTC modules, leadership programmes, apprenticeships and advanced clinical practice opportunities.

The post-holder will participate in any programme implemented by the PCN as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.

Some training may need to be undertaken outside of normal working hours and off site.

Quality & governance

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the PCNs and practices will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Work effectively with individuals in other organisations
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources
• Follow all available policies and procedures

Communication

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team

and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Be familiar in all mediums of communications such as email, tasks, telephone etc
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond
• accordingly
• Communicate effectively to outside agencies
• Communicate clearly with their lead GP

Contribution to the implementation of Services

The post-holder will:

Apply Practice policies, standards and guidance

Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelineswill affect own work

Participate in audit where appropriate

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience within an healthcare setting and/or similar role
• Experience in caring for others
• Strong administrative skills

Desirable

• Experience in GP Practice
• Experience of EMIS Web clinical system
• Experience in Primary Care Setting

Qualities / Attributes

Essential

• An understanding, acceptance and adherence to the need for strict confidentiality
• Able to work on own initiative
• Able to work under pressure and remain calm
• Flexible and adaptable

Qualifications

Essential

• 2 GCSE grade A-C English and Maths
• NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care, and willing to work towards Level 3, or equivalent
• A demonstrable commitment to professional development
• Willing to work towards GPA certification

Desirable

• Qualified to NVQ level 3
• GPA skills certificate

Knowledge / Skills

Essential

• Ability to provide quality patient care
• Excellent IT Skills
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Good organisational skills
• Good team working skills

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

Sutton Primary Care Networks

Address

Manor Practice

57 Manor Road

Wallington

Surrey

SM6 0DE