Job summary
Childrens Services are looking for an enthusiastic, highly motivated experienced Medical Secretary to join their team. The post holder will be expected to provide secretarial administrative support to the paediatric surgery team. The post holder will play a vital role in the effective delivery of patient care and admin duties for multiple consultants. The admin team consists of 4 other members who support different roles and areas of paediatric surgery.
The prime responsibility for the post holder will be to type clinic letters and correspondence, meeting strict deadlines, arranges patient appointments, scanning, telephone queries, waiting list management, liaising with patients and relatives along with different professionals.
We also work very closely with our consulting team and admin teams forging strong relationships to deliver the best care for our patients and their families.
We are looking for a highly motivated, flexible and hardworking person. Candidates will need excellent typing speeds and accuracy and be able to work as part of a team, under minimal supervision and to deadlines. Previous typing experience in an office environment is essential. A good telephone manner and experience of problem solving is advantageous. The candidate must be able to prioritise their workload and work well under pressure.
Main duties of the job
To provide a consistent and high-quality Personal Assistant (PA) service to a group of Clinicians and their teams while supervising the provision of a comprehensive medical secretarial service by a group of staff. The Medical Secretary will have oversight of the referral to treatment time pathway for their consultants patients ensuring they are managed efficiently and effectively through their agreed clinical pathways and where it is not possible that the correct escalation procedures are followed.
About us
At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, you will be joining over 22,000 colleagues who take pride in what they do, respect each other and enjoy working together to provide exceptional patient care. Working alongside a range of healthcare, medical and scientific colleagues, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust contributes to life in the Leeds region, not only by being one of the largest employers, but by supporting the health and wellbeing of the community and playing a leading role in research, education and innovation. We all come together to deliver the outstanding level of care were known for to over million patients a year.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Principal duties and areas of responsibility
The post-holder will:
a. Provide a wide-ranging PA service to a group of clinicians (the number of which will be determined by Departmental requirements and the job plan commitments of the clinical team concerned).
b. For the group of consultants responsible for, manage the flow of patients ensuring tests and/or appointments are booked within the necessary timescales escalating potential for delays to the PSC/Business Manager to ensure that prompt action is taken at all times in order to support strategic capacity/demand planning for the Organisation.
c. At the request of the PSC and where relevant, undertake investigation for informal PALS complaints.
d. Co-ordinate and transcribe/process responses to formal patient complaints together with the clinician ensuring that investigation outcomes are generated within the timeframe agreed with the patient.
e. Coordinate and supervise the day-to-day activities and workload of a small team of medical secretaries (and work closely with relevant PSC/Assistant PSCs as appropriate) and any supporting clerical staff.
f. Support the Team Medical Secretaries to ensure that service provision meets relevant quality standards.
g. Be the departmental super-user/system administrator for speech recognition and digital dictation
h. Take a lead in developing new systems and processes to support on-going service delivery and the maintenance of a high quality service for the patients of Leeds and beyond.
Senior Medical Secretary role
In managing diaries for the clinical team the post holder will be expected to co-ordinate the cancellation or alternative provision of outpatient activity ensuring the communication meets Trust targets where appropriate and escalating to the PSC/Business Manager in cases where the cancellation of clinical activity may prevent national targets from being met.
Supervise a small team of medical secretaries, and related clerical support staff, including the allocation of work and the organisation of daily departmental cover.
Managing and prioritising departmental workload on a day-to-day basis.
On a regular basis to review relevant waiting time reports ( reports) for the Consultants responsible for ensuring in all cases that the next steps for the patient are identified and booked. Where this is not possible to liaise with the Business Manager/PSC for appropriate action to be undertaken.
To support the clinical teams in the delivery of excellent patient care by actively working with colleagues and other Departments to ensure that all patients registered within the service are proactively supported through their patient journey (This would include but is not limited to: liaising with the relevant MDT teams about fast track patients and escalating clinically urgent patients to the relevant staff groups for action where required).
Ensuring all phone calls are answered within the department during core office hours
Opening and dealing with departmental post and allocating resulting work to appropriate staff.
Monitoring turnaround times for clinical correspondence and taking corrective action as required, in conjunction with the assistant PSC/PSC, in order to meet 5-day turnaround standard.
Participate in yearly appraisals for the team medical secretaries together with the PSC/Business Manager to support on-going staff development
Providing PSC/Business Manager and Consultant staff with relevant information relating to administrative service.
Take minutes at secretarial staff meetings and attending other administrative meetings as required.
Undertake duties required as the administrator and super user for the digital dictation/speech recognition system including identifying new workflows, updating workflows as required, and providing general advice on the system to team secretaries.
Responsible for ensuring office equipment is in working order and office supplies are maintained and replenished.
PA/Administrative Support (non clinical) to Consultant/Clinical Team
Provide a comprehensive PA service to the Clinical Director/Lead Clinician and other medical colleagues.
Provide administrative support to Clinical Nurse Specialists where appropriate.
Support clinicians with their teaching and research portfolios by organising regular meetings with trainees, supporting in the writing of research materials and organising meetings and conferences as and when required. This includes but isnt limited to providing support to academic, educational, research and supervisory roles.
Taking phone calls and covering departmental phones when required.
Deal directly with patient enquiries on behalf of consultant/clinical team.
Co-ordination of annual leave for consultants, liaising with the Business Manager for approval and then completing the necessary documentation to organise the cancellation of outpatient activity as required.
Administration duties to support departmental clinical audit and clinical governance where required, such as the collation of information for reports.
Diary management for consultant staff including organising meetings, preparing meeting paperwork and taking minutes as required.
Organising travel arrangements for consultant staff.
Other general administrative duties that may be required to fulfil the role.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
1. At least two years experience in a healthcare environment in a PA or similar role as a Team Medical Secretary
2. Co-ordinating and managing a team workload
3. A good understanding of the principles of data quality
4. Using a variety of Microsoft office packages including word, excel and PowerPoint and e mail
5. Using Trust based information systems such as PAS
6. Diary management
7. Organising and administrating meetings
8. Prioritising and managing workload to meet deadlines
Desirable
9. Direct contact with patients either face to face or by telephone
10. Previous healthcare experience
11. Using other Trust based information systems such as PPM for a variety of purposes reporting or patient pathway management
12. Interpreting simple reports
13. Organising travel
Skills & Behaviours
Essential
14. Interpersonal and communication skills
15. Organisational and time management skills
16. Understanding of patient/customer focus.
17. A detailed understanding of relevant Trust policies and procedures in particular the Complaints/PALS procedures.
18. Supervisory skills
19. Team working
20. Customer care skills - verbal and oral to support dealing with patient queries
21. Tact and diplomacy in handling sensitive and confidential information
22. Knowledge and application of the Data Protection Act in relation to patient confidentiality and the appropriate care of patient information.
23. Understanding of relevant Trust standards and National Waiting Time Standards 5-day turnaround of clinical correspondence, 18-week wait for patients.
24. Using different IT systems to make an assessment of where a patient is in their pathway and the resulting steps required to progress that patient through their journey
Desirable
25. An understanding of medical careers and junior doctor rotation
Qualifications
Essential
26. Audio typing/word processing skills (RSA III) or equivalent experience
27. GCSE Grade C or above (or equivalent AMSPAR Level 2 qualification) English and Maths
Desirable
28. ECDL