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We have an opportunity within the Cardiology department at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital where we are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, motivated full time Medical Secretary to join a fast paced secretarial team on a secondment. You will work alongside the existing administrative team to provide comprehensive and efficient secretarial support to Consultant Cardiologists and other clinicians within the team.
Candidates should be flexible and adaptable in their approach and able to work as part of a team as well as on their own initiative. The role relies on attention to detail, good time management and a proactive work ethic. The successful candidate will be instrumental to the smooth running of the service and will be able to work independently when dealing with enquiries that arise in the absence of the Consultant, to bring about a successful outcome.
The successful candidate will need to be a highly motivated and flexible team player with excellent organisational skills. The ability to work under pressure and effectively prioritise their own workload is essential. You will be able to work as part of a busy and proactive team to achieve targets and cope with work based pressures.
Ideally the candidate will have previous administrative experience within the NHS and must be able to do audio typing.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be responsible for providing a comprehensive and departmental secretarial service to consultants, specialist nurses and other clinicians within the team. The Secretary will be instrumental in the smooth running of the office and will work without supervision, using their initiative when dealing with enquiries that arise in the absence of clinicians, to bring about successful outcomes.
The post holder must be willing to support the service as whole, flexible to working with other Consultants within the Directorate when needed. The post demands the ability to communicate at all levels with patients, relatives, medical colleagues and allied health professionals and maintain a high standard of patient experience.
Working for our organisation
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Provide the focal point of communication for all medical, professional and allied health staff both within the Trust and with external organisations, using judgement to facilitate a successful outcome for all enquiries
Deal with concerned patients and relatives with tact, patience and discretion, especially when conveying sensitive information. Patient contact by telephone is an integral part of the departmental secretarial role, often to convey information, which can be difficult and distressing for patients to comprehend.
Manage own workload, following through queries and chasing progress in order to free up clinical time for clinicians and improve information and access for patients
Act independently to sort, distribute and prioritise incoming mail, including e-mail, using judgement, initiative and experience to prioritise and pass to clinicians or pass directly to other areas for action and information.
Liaise with and support the outpatient pathway coordinator with the booking process to ensure that appointments and clinics are managed efficiently to meet service demands.
Be responsible for ensuring that patient pathways progress in a timely manner in order to meet required target dates in conjunction with the pathway co-ordinator.
Manage and communicate clinic changes including setting up additional clinics, changing, moving or cancelling clinics depending on clinician availability and/or service need.
Have an overview of all absences to identify sufficient clinic cover and capacity utilisation. Conduct a monthly forward look review with clinicians to ensure that all availability is accurate and any changes are acted upon in a timely manner.
Support the 18 week patient pathway by providing timely information to the medical 18 week team on a weekly basis on all tiers, 1, 2 and 3 as requested. This will involve the typing of outstanding letters on Big Hand, chasing approvals, chasing results/test/investigations and ensuring clinician’s action to enable 18 week query to be reported on.
Have an overview of timescales for best practice tariffs to ensure that all patients receive timely appointments.
Maintain electronic diaries for the team, make appointments, plan and organise arrangements within the office. This will necessitate the post holder being able to prioritise.
Ensure all correspondence for clinicians including clinical letters*, medico-legal reports, results, meeting minutes, IPRs are typed and dispatched promptly.
*The post-holder will be required to support the medical transcription team by typing clinic letters for an agreed number of hours each week. During periods of high demand, secretaries will type departmental letters highlighted by clinicians as urgent.
Departmental secretaries will ensure that all actions are completed in a timely manner and typed letters are printed and dispatched promptly.
To print off all inpatient urgent referrals from ICE and ensure that clinicians are aware the day they are received and that they are actioned and reported on the same day
Access systems for eReferrals and Advice and Guidance and liaise with the Outpatient Department to ensure that referrals are triaged and queries are answered by a Consultant in a timely manner.
At the request of clinicians arrange any procedures required.
Scan documents to Evolve as necessary.
Undertake audit work as required. g. collection, checking and interpretation of statistical data and departmental information where appropriate. This includes the maintenance of databases and provide reports from these as required
Order and maintain non stock equipment and stationery for the office.
Organise and support regular/ad hoc meetings including business, clinical, educational and patient support group meetings. This will involve arranging the venue, equipment and catering and taking minutes if required. Occasionally meetings will be out of normal working hours (e.g. Joint Cardiology Cardiothoracic MDT meeting).
Implement policies for own area/office/department.
Ensure that the administration function within the department is appropriately staffed at all times to ensure the smooth running of the department.
Support senior staff with recruitment efforts within the Cardiology department. This may include liaising with recruitment, preparing paperwork. Booking interview rooms, ensuring facilities are available to support any presentations/tests which form part of the interview process and acting as a runner on the day.
Induct/train new departmental staff, including taking all new starters through the local induction booklet, arranging security badges, car parking, IT training etc. Advise junior staff of work pattern and inform regarding departmental policies/procedures.
Ensure that the departmental webpage and intranet page are kept up to date.
Carry out any reasonable work requests to meet the needs of the service
Person specification
Experience
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills
* NHS experience.
* Knowledge of NHS IT Systems.
* Computer literate to ECDL standard or equivalent.
* Experience working as an NHS Medical Secretary.
* Cardiology related medical terminology.
Education
* Educated to GCSE level equivalent including English and Maths.
* Computer literate to ECDL standard or equivalent.
Personal skils
* Experience of working as part of a team
* Experience of working on own initiative.
* Caring and understanding.
* Reliable and dependable
* Motivated approach to work.
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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