Medical Secretary

The post-holder will provide an efficient, confidential and professional secretarial service to the Diabetes & Endocrinology team. This will include administration and secretarial support to enable provision of patient care and speciality services. Good communication with patients, relatives, general practitioners and other hospital staff is essential to ensure a proficient, high quality service for patients and clinicians. The post-holder will be expected to work as part of an Administrative Support Team and will report to the Secretary Supervisor.

You will deal with consultants correspondence, audio typing, handling patient queries and liaise with other healthcare professionals. You will be expected to use your own initiative, make decisions and work efficiently to provide a comprehensive secretarial service.

You will have an excellent work ethic with proven organisational skills and communication skills.

You will be expected to take responsibility for the workload of a team of consultants and support the wider secretarial team as required under the supervision of the Medical Secretary Supervisor.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest employer in the county and with over 8,000 staff, we are one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK. We offer a generous annual leave allowance, excellent bank rates, access to the excellent NHS Pension Scheme, discounts for local shops, restaurants and services, access to our health and well-being hub, access to our two on-site nurseries, flexible working options, discounted public transport, reward and recognition schemes, exercise and activity classes and membership to our popular hospital choir.

Whilst the organisation and structure within specialities/divisions may vary the specific remit of this role will include:
Referrals, Booking and Clinic Prep
- Ensuring that clinicians are able to review their referrals and return them to the Central Booking Office in a timely manner to minimise delay. (Specialties that have their own dedicated Booking Services will still require a timely turn-around).
- Booking follow-up appointments as requested by the clinical team if appropriate, including negotiation of dates with the patient and creating correspondence
- Ensuring that any vacant slots are fully utilised and acted upon, including informing the Booking Office, to maximise capacity
- Booking investigations as requested by the clinical team, including negotiation of dates with the patients and creating correspondence if appropriate
- Ensuring that arrangements are made that achieve the Trust targets and are reflected on IT systems in a timely manner

Transcription
- Typing correspondence to patients, GPs, medical staff and any other required addressee following clinical attendance or other patient contacts as directed by the secretary supervisor.
- Typing detailed medical reports for legal use when necessary
- Take and transcribe minutes as appropriate
- To delegate simple typing tasks as appropriate to the band 2 clerical assistant

Outcomes and Results
- Highlighting to the clinical team members any results, correspondence or patient queries that need response and taking action e.g. booking investigations, transcription, etc

Admissions/Procedures
- Organisation of procedures in negotiation with the clinical staff and patients as requested by the secretary supervisor. This includes identifying potential dates with the clinical team, negotiation of dates with the patient and any additional co-ordination of staff, equipment, stock, facilities, external support (company representatives) and paperwork.
- Ensuring that arrangements are made that achieve the Trust targets and are reflected on IT systems in a timely manner

Specialty Specific Support
- Regularly informing the secretarial supervisor about progress and flagging up as a matter of urgency any issues, for example, capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients, etc
- Diary management, including making appointments, booking meeting dates and venues, organising and distributing paperwork as required by the clinical team/supervisor.
- Supporting consultant staff by assisting with the production/transcription of medical staffing paperwork, such as references etc.
- Supporting consultant staff with their additional responsibilities, such as clinical governance, Clinical Tutor role, etc. This may include setting up training days, teaching sessions, organising visitors, etc.
- Liaising with external organisations for the benefit and progress of patient care, such as Social Services, other hospitals, etc
- Provide direct support for the Service Director as necessary

Service Improvement
- Using speciality databases for recording patient information/clinic activity for audit/survey purposes, as well as sending out any associated paperwork. Regular audit of data is undertaken and decisions can then be made by the department/team as to appropriate service improvemen