County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Medical Secretary
Closing date: 06 February 2026
An exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic individual to join the Medicine Care Group as a Medical Secretary.
The successful post holder will be the first point of contact for the respiratory service and provide comprehensive secretarial support to consultants and clinicians within the team. They will work as part of a team but should be able to work unsupervised using own initiative.
Job responsibilities
* Provide comprehensive secretarial support to the Consultant, junior medical staff and respiratory nursing team.
* Support all secretarial/administrative duties to Consultants and supporting clinical staff, working with minimal supervision.
* Provide timely and accurate typing services, produce letters, reports and correspondence.
* Handle telephone enquiries, take and convey messages appropriately.
* Transmit email, photocopy, scan and circulate documents within Trust or departmental timescales.
* Act as point of contact for staff, patients and others within and outside the organisation – responding to external and internal enquiries, making appointments, giving non‑clinical advice, referrals.
* Respond to internal and external correspondence in accordance with Trust and departmental standards and processes.
* Book investigations, ensure results are presented to medical staff on receipt.
* Maintain accurate patient and GP details on the Trust central and local Patient Administration and Clinical Systems.
* Ensure patient information is bar‑coded correctly for scanning into the electronic clinical document management system – EPR.
* Manage electronic diaries.
* Support the arrangement of on‑call rotas.
* Action all clinic cancellations arising from annual leave, study leave and on‑call rotas as quickly as possible.
* Monitor and action diabetes admin and urgent radiology shared inboxes, disseminating information to relevant Consultants.
* Check and action SystmOne tasks sent from GP surgeries, out of hours service etc. and bring any relevant tasks to clinical staff.
* Organise meetings – arrange venues, prepare agendas, collate and issue papers, attend for taking and production of minutes.
* Operate efficient and up‑to‑date administrative systems and processes for all office tasks.
* Maintain accurate and timely data entry to databases to meet service requirements.
* Prioritise own workload to meet the needs of patients and Consultants and ensure all deadlines are met.
* Support new and/or less experienced staff as directed by line manager/head of service.
* Take notes at informal meetings and transcribe as required.
* Maintain an up‑to‑date filing and archive system, disposing of archived records according to Trust policy.
* Order office supplies through Cardea and maintain agreed stock levels.
* Provide cover as required during absence of colleagues.
* May undertake the role of Information Asset Administrator or Information Asset Owner.
* May undertake the role of Registration Authority Agent/Sponsor.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Good standard of education – minimum of 3 GCSEs (or equivalent) at C grade or above, including English Language.
* NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration or equivalent knowledge/experience (or working towards).
* Keyboarding/typing qualification equivalent to RSA 3/OCR Advanced text/word processing or equivalent proven typing skills to a high standard (or working towards).
Special Requirements
* Ability to work flexible shifts if necessary.
* Willing to undertake any training.
Experience
* Experience in a secretarial/administrative role providing general support in a challenging and constantly changing environment.
* Experience of using Microsoft Word.
* Experience of setting up and maintaining office filing systems.
* Experience of maintaining and setting up databases.
* Experience in planning and organising meetings and taking minutes.
* Experience of providing secretarial/administrative support to a team.
* Experience of working within an NHS environment.
Special Skills & Knowledge
* Knowledge of computer packages e.g. Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint.
* IT skills.
* Ability to use email and maintain and update electronic diaries.
* Knowledge of Data Protection and Caldicott Principles and understanding of the need to maintain strict confidentiality.
* Good interpersonal skills.
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with ability to deal with and prepare routine correspondence and pass on comprehensive and confidential messages.
* Ability to communicate accurately, verbally, courteously and effectively with a wide range of staff, professionals and members of the public.
* Ability to use own initiative to resolve routine queries, in line with departmental procedures.
* Ability to work with minimum supervision following set procedures.
* Ability to organise and prioritise workload to meet deadlines.
* Ability to work as a member of a team.
* Committed to quality customer care/delivering excellent customer service.
* Flexible approach to work and adaptable to change.
* Understanding of medical terminology.
* Previous experience of dictation modules and software packages.
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.
Employer name
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under‑represented.
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