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Main area Gastroenterology Grade NHS AfC: Band 4 Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week (Mon - Wed) Job ref 409-7295096-B
Site Southport Hospital Town Southport Salary £27,485 - £30,162 Per Annum, Pro Rata Salary period Yearly Closing 10/09/2025 23:59
After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
Job overview
We currently have a vacancy within our Gastroenterology team for an experienced, enthusiastic and well-motivated Medical Secretary.
A good knowledge of medical terminology along with excellent keyboard, interpersonal and audio typing skills are essential.
You will be expected to undertake all administrative duties, be well organised, able to plan your own workload using your initiative and work to deadlines.
Interview Date - To Be Confirmed
Main duties of the job
It is expected that applicants will have appropriate knowledge of working in a medical environment and also demonstrate a background of working in an office environment with the ability to liaise with all relevant departments within the Trust and multiple outside agencies.
Being a team player is essential together with first-rate organisational skills. This post is an important role within the Gastroenterology team.
You must:
* Have previous medical secretarial experience
* Have an extensive knowledge of medical terminology
* Experience of minute taking
Working for our organisation
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
* Support the day-to-day organisation, planning and management responsibilities of the Consultants and their teams through the maintenance of their annual leave, their diary, the arrangement of meetings, travel and other appointments.
* To act as first point of contact for patients, GP’s, external organisations and members of the general public seeking information and support from the hospital. The post holder must be able to triage the calls appropriately as well as deal sympathetically with people who may be bereaved, distressed or angry using tact, persuasion and discretion, assessing priorities and initiating action as required.
* Answer telephone queries and provide non-clinical advice regarding patient care and appointments/admissions to patients, Trust staff, referring GP’s and Consultants, making appropriate judgement using acquired knowledge and experience.
* Communicate with patients/parents regarding personal and highly sensitive information.
* Typing urgent clinical and non-clinical correspondence and reports including the transcription and management of audio sources (eg, digital dictation) using initiative in managing and prioritising workload.
* Compose routine and non-routine letters and produce typed clinical correspondence including the transcription of audio dictation.
* Attend, take and transcribe minutes for meetings as required within the specialty and implement any follow-up action points.
* Access the computerised Patient Administration System (CareFlow) for relevant patient details, updating records and registering patients as required.
* Maintain and update specialty-specific databases.
* Retrieve radiology and pathology results from core clinical systems.
* Take action as necessary in respect of all patients who fail to attend in accordance with the Trusts policy and the consultants’ special instructions.
* Ensure the timely despatch of all relevant information to GP’s, other medical staff and external organisations in relation to the locally agreed requirements.
* To evaluate and re-prioritise own workload in accordance with competing demands from patients, medical staff and others.
* Prioritise work to ensure that medical staff are provided with necessary information to take appropriate clinical action.
* Liaise with the Cancer Services Department of patients to be discussed at the Multidisciplinary Team Meetings.
* In conjunction with the support medical secretary/ies and clerical officer(s) within the department ensure that administrative duties are allocated and completed in a timely manner and distribution of workload is done to utilise the resources and support available.
* Ensure that all investigation results are shown to the relevant clinicians in a timely manner and make arrangements for any follow up actions required eg urgent appointments.
* Where applicable ensure waiting time performance targets are achieved.
* Type theatre lists and distribute as required.
* Co-operate in the introduction of new technology as it may apply.
* Be instrumental in preventing complaints from service users, resolving informal complaints and supporting the formal complaints process.
* In line with the Trusts standing financial instructions, handle cash/cheques for the Consultants and teams, patients and other external sources.
* Provide full secretarial support with respect to teaching/meetings as directed by medical staff, e.g. preparing PowerPoint presentations using clinical data and information via the internet.
* Maintain database of clinical activity as required to assist in clinical audit.
Provide guidance to the support medical secretaries and clerical officer(s) and self-supervision in terms of:
* Liaising with other medical secretaries in the department to ensure an efficient service.
* When necessary, exercise initiative to allocate work to the support medical secretaries and clerical officer(s) in a fair and reasonable manner.
* Make economical use of supplies. When necessary, maintain control of stock including stationery supplies.
* Deputise for others and provide cross cover within the team during absences.
* Assist in the orientation of new or temporary members of staff by demonstrating own duties.
* Working independently, plan and prioritise own workload following appropriate Trust and Medical Secretary policies and processes, suggesting improvements where necessary.
Person specification
Qualifications
* NVQ level 3 or equivalent in administrative discipline
* RSA II / III Typing or Word Processing or equivalent experience
* European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL
* British Society of Medical Secretaries Diploma or Advanced AMSPAR Diploma or equivalent experience
Knowledge & Experience
* Previous secretarial experience
* Previous medical secretary experience
* Knowledge of medical terminology
* Demonstrable skills in problem solving
* Previous NHS experience
Skills
* Audio and touch typing with a high level of accuracy
* Shorthand
* Excellent interpersonal skills
* Organisational skills
* Able to use own initiative
* Ability to work in a pressured environment and prioritise workload
* Ability to maintain high levels of concentration with frequent interruptions
* Knowledge of Microsoft Office software packages
Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.
Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.
The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.
The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.
eVisa Update
For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.
Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.
Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:
* Understand how to generate an eVisa share code
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.
Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.
If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
Flexible Working
We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:
* · All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
* · There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
* · Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.
Working for Team MWL
Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.
The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.
You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.
Additional Information
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .
An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.
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