Job responsibilities
Purpose of the Role
The medical administrator serves as a key member of the GP practice team, providing essential support to ensure smooth and efficient practice operations. This role is integral to delivering high-quality patient care by offering comprehensive administrative assistance and fostering effective communication among patients, healthcare professionals, and associated agencies.
Key objectives of the role include:
General Assistance: Provide support to the practice team, projecting a positive and friendly image to patients and visitors, both in person and via the telephone.
Patient Reception and Direction: Receive, assist, and direct patients efficiently and courteously, ensuring they access the appropriate healthcare services or professionals.
Administrative and Organisational Support: Perform a variety of administrative tasks, working closely with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to maintain effective practice operations and deliver high-quality patient care.
Facilitation of Communication: Enable effective communication between patients, the Primary Health Care Team, Secondary Care, and other associated Healthcare Agencies, ensuring seamless coordination and information flow.
The role of the medical administrator encompasses a variety of tasks, though the individual in this position will not necessarily be responsible for all of them:
Patient Interaction and Communication
- Reception Duties: Welcoming patients, managing inquiries, and providing information about the practice.
- Appointment Scheduling: Booking, rescheduling, and cancelling patient appointments using practice management software.
- Telephone Management: Handling incoming calls, directing them to appropriate staff, and taking messages as necessary.
- Patient Registration: Registering new patients and updating existing patient records.
Administrative Support
- Record Keeping: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date patient records, including personal information and medical histories, both digitally and on paper.
- Data Entry: Inputting data into electronic health records and practice management systems.
- Correspondence: Managing incoming and outgoing mail and emails, and drafting correspondence as required.
- Medical Reporting: Assisting in the preparation and distribution of medical reports and summaries.
- Medical Summarising: Summarise and update medical records to ensure they are comprehensive and accessible to healthcare providers.
- Referrals and Communication: Type and send referral letters and other communications to specialists and external healthcare providers.
- GP Rota Management: Assist in creating and maintaining the GP rota to ensure adequate staffing and coverage.
Prescription Management
- Prescription Processing: Assist with the preparation and management of repeat prescriptions, ensuring they are processed efficiently and accurately.
- Liaison with Pharmacists: Communicate with local pharmacies to resolve any prescription issues and ensure timely medication delivery.
- Medication Queries: Address patient queries related to prescriptions and medications.
Patient Care Coordination
- Referral Management: Coordinating referrals to specialists and other healthcare services as directed by the GPs.
- Follow-ups: Organizing follow-up appointments and tests, and ensuring patients are reminded of upcoming appointments.
- Patient Liaison: Acting as a point of contact for patients regarding their care and any administrative issues.
- Referrals and Communication: Support the secretarial team when required with referral letters and other communications to specialists and external healthcare providers.
Safeguarding
- Policy Adherence: All staff must adhere to safeguarding policies and procedures, promoting a culture of safeguarding throughout the practice in line with established guidelines.
- Vigilance: Staff are required to remain vigilant to any signs or concerns of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, both within and outside of the practice environment.
- Reporting Concerns: All staff have a responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns, no matter how small, to the designated safeguarding lead or appropriate individual within the practice, following the practice's reporting procedures.
- Safeguarding Awareness: Staff should be aware of safeguarding issues, including those affecting vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and individuals with mental health or learning difficulties, ensuring they respond appropriately.
- Training: All staff must complete mandatory safeguarding training, ensuring they are informed and equipped to identify and act on safeguarding concerns in accordance with practice and legal requirements.
- Confidentiality: Safeguarding information must be handled with the utmost confidentiality, shared only with relevant professionals and authorities in accordance with safeguarding procedures.
- Collaboration: Staff should support collaboration with external agencies and safeguarding authorities when appropriate, to ensure the welfare and safety of patients is maintained.
Confidentiality and Security
- Data Protection: Ensuring all patient information is kept confidential and secure, following legal and ethical guidelines.
- Access Control: Managing access to patient records and sensitive information, ensuring only authorized personnel can access it.
- Policy Compliance: Ensure the practice complies with healthcare regulations and guidelines, such as GDPR and NHS policies.
Health and Safety
Policy Adherence: 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, the Practice Health and Safety Manual and the Practice Infection Control Policy and published procedures.
Personal security systems: Will be utilised within the workplace according to Practice guidelines
Risks: Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks. Reporting potential risks to Practice Management team.
Training: Undertake and make effective use of training to update knowledge and skills.
Infection control procedures: Adhere to these procedures and maintain work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards.
Equality, Diversity, and Rights
- Support for Equality and Diversity: Support the equality, diversity, and rights of patients, carers, and colleagues.
- Rights Recognition: Act in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a manner consistent with practice procedures, policies, and current legislation.
- Respect for Privacy and Dignity: Respect the privacy, dignity, needs, and beliefs of patients, carers, and colleagues.
- Welcoming and Non-judgmental Behaviour: Behave in a manner that is welcoming, non-judgmental, and respectful of individuals circumstances, feelings, priorities, and rights.
Quality Assurance and Improvement
- Alerting Team Members: Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
- Self-Assessment: Assess own performance and take accountability for actions, either directly or under supervision.
- Team Effectiveness: Contribute to team effectiveness by reflecting on own and team activities and suggesting improvements.
- Interagency Collaboration: Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs.
- Time Management: Effectively manage own time, workload, and resources.
Communication
- Team Communication: Communicate effectively with other team members.
- Patient and Carer Communication: Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
- Alternative Communication Methods: Recognize and respond to people's needs for alternative methods of communication.
Contribution to Service Implementation
- Policy Application: Apply practice policies, standards, and guidance.
- Policy Discussion: Discuss with team members how policies, standards, and guidelines will affect own work.
- Audit Participation: Participate in audits where appropriate.
- System Optimisation: Contributing to the development and implementation of new administrative procedures and technologies to enhance practice efficiency.
Personal and Professional Development
- Training Participation: Participate in any training programs implemented by the practice as part of employment.
- Performance Review: Engage in an annual individual performance review and take responsibility for maintaining a record of personal and/or professional development.
- Self-Development: Take responsibility for own development, learning, and performance.
- Skill Sharing: Demonstrate skills and activities to others undertaking similar work to enhance team capabilities.