PA/ Medical Secretary

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 07 April 2025

Job summary

To provide a full confidential, administrative and secretarial service to the Clinical Director and team.

To work as a member of the PA team to ensure service delivery and adequate PA cover is provided.

To project the professional image of the business through demonstrating excellent customer care in all activities.

To adopt a constantly flexible approach to ensure that all Consultant team objectives are completed efficiently and within given timescales.

To maintain confidentiality at all times

Main duties of the job

To respond sensitively to patients, showing empathy and recognising that they may sometimes be distressed or upset. The post holder has direct contact with relatives and carers and needs to demonstrate tact and diplomacy.

To plan and organise clinics in order to meet fluctuations in capacity and demand. This can involve patients being seen in the out-patient clinic or in the community.

To co-ordinate the provision of meetings, as needed to support multi-agency working (eg Mental Health Act Tribunals)

To ensure all documentation/records are made available in advance of clinics as required.

To use the relevant systems to book new and follow-up clinic appointments.

Provide timely and accurate typing from audio/Digital Dictation for all patient related correspondence following: outpatient appointments; in-patient admissions; or as a result of multi-disciplinary meetings. This includes written correspondence with General Practitioners, involving the accurate transcription of detailed and sometimes complex medical information that may be of a sensitive nature.

Managing the Consultant/Medical Team diaries effectively and efficiently, including organisation of annual leave.

Notifying other Consultants of the absence of a Consultant in order to ensure there is adequate medical cover; notifying in a timely manner regarding any adjustments needed to the Consultant on-call rotas.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

  • 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
  • 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
  • 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Date posted

20 March 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

327-25-228

Job locations

Evergreen House

Charlton Lane

Cheltenham

GL53 9DZ


Job description

Job responsibilities

Support the process for reimbursement of expenses incurred by the Consultant and their team (eg courses and travel arrangements).

Carry out searches and provide statistical information for the Consultant and Medical Team.

Maintain service delivery of the Medical Secretariat by assisting colleagues during their absence or with peaks of work. This may involve the need to travel across Trust sites.

Organise and facilitate meetings / training events etc through the creation and distribution of agendas and papers, arranging dates, venues, and refreshments if required, including minute-taking.

Support the process for admissions to hospital units, using current approved protocols.

Support the Referral process into the Clinical Team.

Adhere to all Trust policies, paying particular regard to the Information Governance and Data Protection Policies.

Effective use of the Trusts Patient Information System (RIO), with robust updating and recording of accurate data. Good understanding of RiO pathways and admin responsibilities, ensuring effective/timely delegation of tasks.

Open, record, date stamp and effectively manage and distribute all incoming and outgoing post in order to ensure effective communications for the department.

Pro-actively manages completion of statutory & mandatory training and appraisals to ensure 100% compliance.

Contribute ideas and suggestions to improve the effectiveness and image of the Medical Secretariat.

Actively participate in team meetings and discussions with colleagues and manager to make constructive suggestions as to how services could be improved within own work area, and implementing such changes with guidance from line manager

Act in ways that; support equality and value diversity. Treat everyone with whom you come into contact, with dignity and respect, and recognise and report behaviour that undermines equality and diversity.

Please review full job description and person specification documents.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Support the process for reimbursement of expenses incurred by the Consultant and their team (eg courses and travel arrangements).

Carry out searches and provide statistical information for the Consultant and Medical Team.

Maintain service delivery of the Medical Secretariat by assisting colleagues during their absence or with peaks of work. This may involve the need to travel across Trust sites.

Organise and facilitate meetings / training events etc through the creation and distribution of agendas and papers, arranging dates, venues, and refreshments if required, including minute-taking.

Support the process for admissions to hospital units, using current approved protocols.

Support the Referral process into the Clinical Team.

Adhere to all Trust policies, paying particular regard to the Information Governance and Data Protection Policies.

Effective use of the Trusts Patient Information System (RIO), with robust updating and recording of accurate data. Good understanding of RiO pathways and admin responsibilities, ensuring effective/timely delegation of tasks.

Open, record, date stamp and effectively manage and distribute all incoming and outgoing post in order to ensure effective communications for the department.

Pro-actively manages completion of statutory & mandatory training and appraisals to ensure 100% compliance.

Contribute ideas and suggestions to improve the effectiveness and image of the Medical Secretariat.

Actively participate in team meetings and discussions with colleagues and manager to make constructive suggestions as to how services could be improved within own work area, and implementing such changes with guidance from line manager

Act in ways that; support equality and value diversity. Treat everyone with whom you come into contact, with dignity and respect, and recognise and report behaviour that undermines equality and diversity.

Please review full job description and person specification documents.

Person Specification

Essential

Essential

  • NVQ Level 2 in administration or equivalent experience NVQ Level 3 Administration / RSA Level 3 or equivalent experience
  • Proven experience of unsupervised senior administrative work in a busy office environment.
  • Previous experience of using software package Microsoft Office e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook to a high level.
  • Experience of diary management/schedules.

Desirable

  • Previous experience of working within the NHS
  • Previous experience of working within mental health

Essential

Essential

  • Ability to communicate effectively in both verbal and written form

Desirable

  • Ability to contribute to the continuous improvement of systems and processes
Person Specification

Essential

Essential

  • NVQ Level 2 in administration or equivalent experience NVQ Level 3 Administration / RSA Level 3 or equivalent experience
  • Proven experience of unsupervised senior administrative work in a busy office environment.
  • Previous experience of using software package Microsoft Office e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook to a high level.
  • Experience of diary management/schedules.

Desirable

  • Previous experience of working within the NHS
  • Previous experience of working within mental health

Essential

Essential

  • Ability to communicate effectively in both verbal and written form

Desirable

  • Ability to contribute to the continuous improvement of systems and processes

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

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Evergreen House

Charlton Lane

Cheltenham

GL53 9DZ


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Evergreen House

Charlton Lane

Cheltenham

GL53 9DZ


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


For questions about the job, contact:

Support Services Lead

Sharon Collins

sharon.collins@ghc.nhs.uk

03004214899

Date posted

20 March 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

327-25-228

Job locations

Evergreen House

Charlton Lane

Cheltenham

GL53 9DZ


Supporting documents

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