Medical Secretary

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job summary:

To provide general secretarial support to the practice manager, doctors and health professionals, involving word processing and audio typing skills with general clerical work.

Job responsibilities:

To provide an efficient audio, copy typing and word processing service for the practices growing clinical team and health professionals as required. This includes the typing of letters, reports, patient referrals, minutes etc in an accurate and quality manner.

To assist the practice manager and admin team with all clerical and administrative duties.

To make appointments, bookings and admissions as required.

Contact and liaise with hospitals and other outside agencies as requested.

To liaise and arrange meetings (to include the booking of rooms) as required and to attend meetings and take minutes.

To help with practice promotional material and displays for patient education and new services etc.

To establish and maintain filing and administrative systems so that written or computer information is easily accessible and secure.

To retrieve medical records and assist the completion of medical/insurance records.

To action SARS requests for patient records for legal and other purposes

File patient records and correspondence in patient medical records.

To receive incoming and initiate outgoing telephone calls in order to facilitate timely and appropriate communications with others, taking messages and dealing with appropriate queries.

To maintain the computer clinic system in an accurate and secure manner.

To assist with the gathering of statistics and information when required.

To provide cover for members of the secretarial team as well as provide cover for members of the admin/reception team during periods of sickness and annual leave.

Maintain adequate supplies of office stationery in order to perform secretarial duties.

To receive and dispatch mail and maintain a pending system.

Culling and sorting patient records and letters in preparation for summarising

Reviewing medical records and producing an accurate summary of the patients medical history from both GP2GP and non GP2GP registrations.

Read coding of information into the practice clinical system

Auditing data collection standards in the practice

Monitoring patient call and recall systems.

Filing and retrieving paperwork

Confidentiality:

In the course of 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 and 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, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the practice Infection Control policy and published procedures. This will 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

Actively reporting of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised

Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, assisting in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope of the job holders role

Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually)

Reporting potential risks identified

Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

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 that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal/Professional development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice 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.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and 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

Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance.

Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs.

Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Communication:

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

Communicate effectively with other team members.

Communicate effectively with patients and carers.

Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

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 guidelines will affect own work.

Participate in audit where appropriate.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Minimum 2 year medical secretary experience.
• Experience working in a healthcare setting.
• Medical terminology.

Desirable

• Experience of working in Primary Care.
• Experience of working within a changing environment.
• Care navigation and signposting.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Ability to use a telephone system and good call handling skills including taking and recording accurate information
• Keyboard and IT Skills
• Well organised
• Ability to deal with urgent situations that may arise and work calmly under pressure
• Attention to detail and good levels of accuracy
• Confidentiality & GDPR awareness
• Excellent communications including the ability to listen, must include communication skills via:
• -Telephone
• -Email
• -In person

Desirable

• EMIS user
• Ability to use and decipher read codes
• Previous use of medical terminology

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Ability to use a telephone system and good call handling skills including taking and recording accurate information
• Keyboard and IT Skills
• Well organised
• Ability to deal with urgent situations that may arise and work calmly under pressure
• Attention to detail and good levels of accuracy
• Confidentiality & GDPR awareness
• Excellent communications including the ability to listen, must include communication skills via:
• -Telephone
• -Email
• -In person

Desirable

• EMIS user
• Ability to use and decipher read codes
• Previous use of medical terminology

Qualifications

Essential

• English and Maths GCSE A to C or equivalent

Desirable

• Secretarial qualifications.
• Experience of audio typing.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Strong IT skills - Microsoft Packages
• Prioritisation and planning with good time management skills.
• Well organised.
• Ability to make own decisions, and use own initiative.
• Attention to detail and good levels of accuracy.
• Confidentiality & GDPR awareness.
• Excellent communications including the ability to listen, must include communication skills via:
• -Telephone
• -Email
• -In person

Desirable

• EMIS user.
• Ability to use and decipher read codes.

Qualities/Attributes

Essential

• Personable and approachable.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure.
• Sensitive and empathetic.
• Hardworking and reliable.
• Self-motivated.
• Resourceful.

Other

Essential

• Ability to work flexibly.
• Willingness to undertake assessment and complete further training or qualifications.

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

Norwood Medical Centre

Address

Norwood Medical Centre

360 Herries Road

Sheffield

S5 7HD

Employer's website

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