Gynae Oncology Medical Secretary

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE

To provide a full range of medical secretarial & personal assistant service to your consultants and their team including full organisational support.

JOB SUMMARY

To work as part of a team and manage own workload, demonstrate efficient organisation and oversee the smooth effective operation of the office.

To ensure procedures and working practices are in place so that the specialty and Trust can deliver a service that meets the standards and targets that have been set.

To provide a considerate, patient focussed service in all dealings with patients and with staff around the hospital and throughout the whole system.

This section outlines the roles and responsibilities that are an essential requirement of all Medical Secretary Posts within the Royal Surrey Foundation Trust. The priorities within a specific post can be added in a job plan for each post.

To undertake a full range of secretarial duties for consultants and their team

To produce and forward all patient letters, and other correspondence in line with current standards and using audio typing and/or dedicated software.

To deal with all post, faxes, e-mails, results etc on a daily basis and prioritise as necessary to ensure consultants and their team are aware of the urgent results and information

Take responsibility for all new referrals; liaise with the appointment centre staff and other coordinators such as specialist nurses and cancer MDT coordinators, other nursing and medical staff to ensure new referrals are promptly seen/treated in line with the current guidelines.

Arrange appointments as required.

Oversee preparation of relevant notes, results and scans for clinics. Use initiative to obtain missing details, results and x-rays.

To understand the full patient pathway, and the impact of local decisions on this pathway by having thorough knowledge of working practices, medical treatments and associated specialties/departments.

Understand and work to achieve the national and local standards guidelines for patient care (e.g. 2-week wait rule, inpatient/outpatient waiting targets, targets for investigations, correspondence turnaround times, 62/31 day cancer targets and 18 weeks/MDs etc.).

To play a key role in establishing and implementing local policies and procedures that ensure working practices meet the above standards/targets and is centred around the patient.

Take responsibility for amending a patients pathway wherever possible and escalate as necessary.

Understand the implications of Patient Choice and electronic booking and proactively manage changes that will need to be incurred in the specialty.

To be aware of the funding arrangements and ensure funding is confirmed for patients out of area/out of contract, in close liaison with general/specialty manager and PCT Liaison offices.

To make arrangements relating to patient admissions in liaison with admission staff, diagnostic departments and transport desk as required.

To take all telephone calls from patients, relatives, members of the public and other professional organisations in an efficient, tactful and compassionate manner.

Listen to and manage patient concerns. This involves listening to and as far as possible resolving situations that can be highly distressing to patients/relatives who may be upset, angry or concerned.

Provide information to patients as agreed with the consultant, and in close collaboration with the team.

Understanding of the complaints procedure and use initiative to resolve complaints from patients and any other individuals as far as possible. Escalate outstanding concerns as required.

Manage the implications of annual leave, organise the amendment of clinics, other fixed commitments and arrange cover for consultants during their absence.

Provide a comprehensive personal assistant service to consultants. This may involve diary management, facilitate meetings, travel and conference details as required.

Regulate outpatient clinics as required.

Ensure efficient filing and information tracking systems are adhered to, providing continuity of care, including electronic case note tracking.

Send out information, leaflets where appropriate and provide telephone information/advice to patients as agreed within the team and in accordance with the guidelines.

To utilise the Trusts Patient Administration System (APAS) and other information systems (e.g. Telepath/CRIS) as required. Ensure patient information had been entered correctly and amend as necessary.

To provide short-term and emergency cover for other secretarial staff as /and when required.

Supervise and train Agency and temporary staff and provide appropriate checks to ensure that standards are maintained.

Day-to-day supervision and training of medical secretarial staff and/other clerical staff.

Support the induction of junior doctors.

Collect and capture audit data as required.

Assist General/Specialty/Office Manager or Consultant with statistics and information requirements on spread sheets and PowerPoint presentations.

To liaise with other departments within the RSCH, liaise and coordinate with GP practice staff and other staff across the hospital.

Be willing to adjust own working practices and support specialty wide and trust wide changes that will occur e.g. as a consequence of implementation of Connecting to Health (CfH), the national programme for IT. (this may require further training).

Ensure that the supply of stationery and office equipment is well maintained with particular emphasis on waste. (take responsibility for ordering stationery).

Attend and contribute to specific working groups and policy forums (e.g. Trust Secretarial Group, Patient and Upper Involvement Strategy Group, Patient Line of Sight Teams).

Any other duties appropriate to the grade of the post.

Agree individual Personal Development Plan with Line Manager.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Good general standard of education to GCSE level or equivalent including English

Desirable

• RSA Sage 2 or equivalent in word processing/RSA Stage 3 Audio Typing, medical secretary qualification (BSMS Certificate) or equivalent.

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrates the ability to prioritise workload and to adapt effectively to changing priorities
• Experience of working in a busy environment
• Advanced keyboard and audio typing skills
• Experience of dealing with the general public
• Demonstrable experience in a medical environment, as a medical secretary.
• Experience of working in a large complex organisation and a multidisciplinary environment.
• Experience in using patient administration systems.

Desirable

• Experience of establishing and maintaining effective filing systems
• Awareness and understanding of NHS issues.
• Experience of mentoring, training or supervising others.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Egerton Road

Guildford

Surrey

GU2 7XX

Employer's website

https://www.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)