University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW)

Senior Medical Secretary

The closing date is 18 July 2025

Job summary

We are excited to offer 2 Band 4 Senior Medical Secretarial roles at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children:

Role 1: Paediatric Plastic Surgery & Burns

25 hrs per week, with flexibility across 4 or 5 days -- as long as you're available for full days on Thursday & Friday.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a busy, supportive team where your organisational skills and calm approach will really shine. You'll work closely with an experienced secretary to provide high quality support to a clinical service that has a real impact on children and families.

Due to the nature of the specialty, some clinical content may be sensitive, so emotional resilience is important.

Role 2: Paediatric Neurology

30 hrs per week, flexible across 4 or 5 days -- with a full day on Friday required.

You'll be joining a friendly, collaborative team who value initiative, attention to detail and a positive approach to a busy and varied workload.

For both roles, we're looking for someone with strong Microsoft Office 365 skills, excellent proofreading/editing abilities and a professional, friendly telephone manner. You'll be speaking with patients, families and healthcare professionals so great communication is key.

We offer a mix of home and office working, along with a flexitime arrangement to support your work-life balance.

Please let us know in the supporting information section of your application form which role(s) you are interested in and would like to be considered for.

Interview Date: 29/07/2025

Main duties of the job

Communication:

To act as a point of contact for queries from clinical and non-clinical staff
Liaise via telephone and email with other clinical/clerical teams to action urgent appointments or procedures where necessary and ensure that all relevant departments are notified accordingly
Act as a point of contact for patients, relatives and carers. The post holder should be polite and empathetic to the patient's needs at all times and be able to communicate effectively when dealing with difficult situations/conversations
Returning calls promptly and keeping callers updated with information in an effective and efficient way
Escalate patient queries, capacity problems and general issues to the role's line manager or relevant clinical staff as appropriate

Organising and Planning:

Checking and sorting investigation reports and passing information on to clinical team as required
Ensure the dispatch and production of all clinical correspondence is maintained by pro-actively monitoring the digital dictation and speech recognition system, and to escalate where delays are identified
Provide monthly key performance indicator information to the Line Manager and discuss with the team any appropriate actions that need to be taken

About us

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is one of the largest acute Trusts in the country, bringing together a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff and over 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites, serving a core population of more than 500,000 people across South West England. UHBW has been rated by the CQC as 'Good' overall and our staff are proud to deliver excellent care to the people of Bristol, Weston and beyond. As a forward-thinking multi-award winning Trust and a digital exemplar committed to improving patient care, our world-leading research and innovations are having a positive local and global impact. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone's throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer. UHBW is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we're meeting our pledge.

Date posted

07 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

Depending on experience £27485 - £30162 pa pro rata (depending on experience)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

387-WC5564-TJ-A

Job locations

Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Upper Maudlin Street

Bristol

BS2 8BJ

Job description

Job responsibilities

For a more detailed job description and main responsibilities, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For a more detailed job description and main responsibilities, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

Person Specification

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective and polite manner when dealing with people, both face to face and on the phone
Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines whilst maintaining a high standard of accuracy
Ability to work effectively in a busy team, adjust to change and motivate others
Ability to work independently, managing own workload, whilst providing supervision and support to others
Confidence to handle difficult conversations with patients, relatives and carers
Ability to adapt to use new computer packages and programmes
Effective organisational skills
Good IT skills including Microsoft packages
Attention to detail
Ability to deal with non-routine issues on own initiative

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

Clerical/administrative experience/Secretarial
Understanding of specialist medical terminology
Experience of dealing with the public, both on the telephone and in person

Education and Qualifications

Essential

Educated to GCSE, grade C or above (or equivalent) in English Language and Maths
Qualified in word processing or audio typing (or equivalent)
Business and Administration Level 3 NVQ or equivalent experience

Person Specification

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective and polite manner when dealing with people, both face to face and on the phone
Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines whilst maintaining a high standard of accuracy
Ability to work effectively in a busy team, adjust to change and motivate others
Ability to work independently, managing own workload, whilst providing supervision and support to others
Confidence to handle difficult conversations with patients, relatives and carers
Ability to adapt to use new computer packages and programmes
Effective organisational skills
Good IT skills including Microsoft packages
Attention to detail
Ability to deal with non-routine issues on own initiative

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

Clerical/administrative experience/Secretarial
Understanding of specialist medical terminology
Experience of dealing with the public, both on the telephone and in person

Education and Qualifications

Essential

Educated to GCSE, grade C or above (or equivalent) in English Language and Maths
Qualified in word processing or audio typing (or equivalent)
Business and Administration Level 3 NVQ or equivalent experience

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).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

Certificate of Sponsorship

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW)

Address

Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Upper Maudlin Street

Bristol

BS2 8BJ

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW)

Address

Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Upper Maudlin Street

Bristol

BS2 8BJ

Employer's website

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