Job responsibilities
Job Purpose
To
provide a comprehensive and high quality medical secretarial service to
support clinical teams (Consultants, their medical teams e.g. junior medical
staff or specialist nursing staff as appropriate) in delivering high quality
care to the patients of Leeds and beyond. This role will additionally make a
key contribution in improving the patient experience by supporting
Directorate teams with the movement of patients through their 18-week pathway
or other national waiting time standards as appropriate.
. Job Dimensions
The
post-holder will:
Work as part of a team to ensure
that all clinical correspondence is turned around in a timely manner to allow
patients to move through their pathway without any delays
Work with Consultants and their
medical teams.
Manage their workload in line with
departmental requirements or as identified by the Senior Medical Secretary.
Deal with patient enquiries.
Play a key role in ensuring that
patients move systematically through their pathways by ensuring that the next
steps are in the pipeline.
. Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Required
Qualifications
Audio typing/Word Processing Skills
(RSA II) or equivalent experience (essential)
GCSE Grade C or above English and
Maths (or equivalent e.g. AMSPAR Level 2 qualification) (essential)
ECDL (desirable)
Experience
Using a variety of Microsoft office
packages including word, excel and PowerPoint (essential)
Using patient information systems
such as PAS (essential) and PPM (desirable) or the ability to quickly develop
this knowledge in a short time frame. In some specific cases additional
system knowledge would be considered desirable e.g. using Mosaic within the
Oncology & Physics teams.
Prioritising and managing workload
to meet deadlines (essential)
Dealing with internal and external
enquiries originating from a variety of sources including but not limited to:
staff in other Departments, patients, staff in GP surgeries (desirable)
Secretarial experience (essential)
Previous secretarial experience in
a healthcare setting (desirable)
Skills
& Knowledge
The
candidate must demonstrate excellence and ability within the following areas:
Interpersonal and communication
skills (essential)
Organisational skills and time
management (essential)
Understanding of customer care
principles (essential)
A broad understanding of medical
terminology and its use within clinical correspondence (essential)
Ability to work as part of a team
(essential)
Ability to communicate sensitively
with a wide range of people including patients, using tact and diplomacy
(essential)
Ability to deal with sensitive and
often emotive information (essential)
Ability to deal with enquiries in
an appropriate and supportive manner (essential)
Knowledge and application of the
Data Protection Act in relation to patient confidentiality and the
appropriate care of patient information (essential).
A good understanding of relevant
Trust standards and National Waiting Time Standards e.g. 5-day turnaround of
clinical correspondence, 18 week wait for patients (desirable). Training will
be offered as part of the role to ensure appointed candidates meet this
requirement during the course of their employment.
. THE LEEDS WAY VALUES
Our
values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this
as a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our
staff and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:
Patient-centred
Collaborative
Fair
Accountable
Empowered
All
our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values.
7. West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts
(WYAAT)
Leeds
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of
Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across
West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible
care for our patients.
By bringing together the wide range of
skills and expertise across West Yorkshire and Harrogate we are working
differently, innovating and driving forward change to deliver the highest
quality care. By working for Leeds
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a part of that
change.
WYAAT is the acute sector arm of the West
Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, one of the largest
integrated care systems in the country. The Partnerships ambition is for
everyone to have the best possible health and wellbeing, and the work of
WYAAT, and each individual trust, supports that ambition.
8. Core Values & Behaviours
This
individual will be expected to work well as part of a team and should be
patient focused, professional and flexible in their approach to work.
. Core Knowledge and Understanding
See Knowledge/Skills and Experience
above.
. Principal duties and areas of
responsibility
Clinical
Correspondence & Support to Clinical Service Typing/proof reading clinical correspondence relating to
outpatient and inpatient attendances and other patient related correspondence
on behalf of the consultant and clinical teams.
Use a range of IT skills to support
the clinical work of the consultant e.g. use of databases and spreadsheets to
monitor test results for patients.
Support administrative process as
deemed appropriate by the Senior Medical Secretary and PSC.
To support the clinical teams in
the delivery of excellent patient care by actively working with colleagues
and other Departments to ensure that all patients registered within the
service are proactively supported through their patient journey (This would
include but is not limited to: ensuring that follow-up and/or discharge
appointments have been made for patients when required escalating to the
Patient Services Co-ordinator where appointments have been booked outside the
requested timescales).
Any other general administrative
duties associated with the consultant/clinical team outpatient and inpatient
workload.
Answer phone calls and deal with
enquiries relating to patients and clinical work from a variety of sources,
directly resolving where possible or transferring to appropriate personnel.
Liaise with GPs, hospital staff and
others on behalf of consultant in relation to clinical workload.
Maintain appropriate databases
(both Trust and Departmental) to support with the delivery of the 18-week
pathway or other waiting time standards as appropriate.
Assist in the coordination of test
results, bringing these to the attention of the consultant and taking
resulting action as required.
Maintaining
an effective administration service
Together with colleagues to
deputise for the Senior Medical Secretary in cases of absence to ensure
Departmental standards are maintained
In conjunction with other Team
Medical Secretaries and under the supervision of the Senior Medical Secretary
to work collectively as a team proactively planning workloads to meet
different deadlines and timescales.
Create and maintain appropriate
record systems relating to clinical workload e.g. tests and results
spreadsheets
Provide guidance to clerical
support officers as necessary.
Ensure that health records are
tracked on entering and leaving the Department and stored in an appropriate
manner in line with Trust Policy and patient confidentiality.
Ensure that health records are
maintained to a high standard at all times. All documentation and
investigation results must be securely filed in the correct section in
chronological order. Support Data Quality Indicators by ensuring that patient
information is accurate and updated on relevant paper and computerised
systems.
Access information systems to
obtain clinical information as required by the medical teams including
investigation results or other information e.g. from results server, PPM or
WinDIP
Work as part of the team to ensure
that all phone calls are answered within the department during core office
hours.
Provide information to Senior
Medical Secretary/PSC/Assistant PSC, as appropriate, relating to workload and
work outstanding.
Provide cover for other team
secretaries/clerical staff when on annual leave or sick leave.
Additional
duties
Any other duties that from time to
time may be deemed necessary by the Trust/Directorates that are commensurate
to the role.
Health
and Safety/Risk Management
All
staff are responsible for working with their colleagues to maintain and
improve the quality of services provided to our patients and other service
users. This includes complying at all
times with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust policies, including Health and
Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures,
and reporting incidents using the Trust Incident Reporting System.
Infection
Control
The
jobholder must comply at all times with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS
Trust Infection Control policies, in particular by practising Universal
Infection Control Precaution. Hand
hygiene must be performed before and after contact with patients and their
environment.
Equality
and Diversity
The
jobholder must comply with all policies and procedures designed to ensure
equality of employment and that services are delivered in ways that meet the
individual needs of patients and their families. No person whether they are
staff, patient or visitor should receive less favourable treatment because of
their gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion
etc.
Patient
and Public Involvement
The
Trust has a statutory duty to involve patients and public in evaluating and
planning services. All staff have a
responsibility to listen to the views of patients and to contribute to
service improvements based on patient feedback.
