Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Assistant Medical Secretary
The closing date is 22 March 2026
We have a vacancy for a full‑time Medical Secretary Assistant working between Wotton Lawn Hospital in Gloucester and Charlton Lane Hospital in Cheltenham. The post entails supporting the Medical Secretary team in providing a full secretarial service to Consultants.
Relevant secretarial experience is essential as the environment is fast‑paced and requires a broad knowledge of medical terminology, RSA II/OCR II Word Processing/Typing and audio‑typing experience. You will work as part of a committed supportive team and be able to deal confidently and professionally with colleagues, GP surgeries and patients, maintaining confidentiality at all times.
Main duties of the job
You should have a friendly, positive, problem‑solving approach, be self‑motivated, willing to learn and enjoy using your own initiative, within the remit of the post. You will need to be an excellent team player with the ability to adapt to various tasks according to service needs. As well as good verbal, written and numerical skills, you must be able to prioritise and organise your own workload well, and be able to work effectively and efficiently.
You will be skilled in IT applications; including Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel and have excellent interpersonal and strong communications skills. You should be able to adapt to a busy changing environment and be able to work with people under pressure.
This post requires the post holder to undertake all statutory and mandatory training and be able to undertake physical interventions. Fitness for physical intervention will be assessed by Occupational Health.
The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.
About us
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
* 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
* 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
* 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high‑level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top‑quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
Job responsibilities
Answers the telephone in a professional, helpful and courteous manner, taking accurate message and ensuring timely distribution.
Open, record, date stamp and effectively manage and distribute all incoming and outgoing post in order to ensure effective communications for the department.
All records are maintained efficiently and accurately and proactive monitoring of retention periods and Trust storage facilities.
All queries and complaints are handled in a professional, helpful and confidential manner and within Trust guidelines. Responses to be pro‑actively managed.
E‑mails are responded to in a timely manner, circulated correctly and with the appropriate importance/sensitivity marker and subject title.
Fulfils assistant secretarial support to the Charlton Lane and Wotton Lawn Hospitals Inpatient Medical Secretary by typing of clinic tapes, and appropriate distribution etc., and assisting with any relevant administration tasks.
Pro-actively manages completion of training and appraisals to ensure minimum of 90% completion.
Effective use of the Trust's Patient Information System (RiO), Excel for extraction, recording and accurate inputting of data. Good understanding of RiO pathways and admin responsibilities, ensuring effective/timely delegation of tasks.
Assists in the arrangement of meetings and co‑ordinate, collate and ensure accurate and timely distribution of papers, as needed. Ensure that minutes are accurate, well written and presented, and effectively distributed in a timely manner.
Responds to all colleagues in a positive, professional and helpful manner. Takes the wider view at all times.
Efficiently uses appropriate systems to collect collate and report data and information in an accurate format (e.g. Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
All communication is professionally presented, accurate, well‑constructed and formatted in line with Trust guidelines.
Work within guidance of the Trust's policies and procedures. If in doubt, contact your Manager.
To provide efficient and responsive support to the Medical Secretary role.
To immediately inform the Duty Co‑ordinator/Team Manager of any issues affecting service delivery.
This role is not eligible for sponsorship as per the Government's UK VISA and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
Person Specification
QUALIFICATIONS
* GCSE level education or equivalent (Literacy & Numeracy)
* European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or equivalent
* OCR/RSA III, QCF/NVQ Level 2 Business Administration or equivalent.
* Shorthand or speed writing
LENGTH AND / OR NATURE OF EXPERIENCE
* Proven experience of unsupervised administrative work in a busy office environment
* Previous experience of using software packages such as Microsoft Office i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
* Experience of using appropriate systems to collect, collate and report data in an accurate format (Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
* Experience of Data Inputting and Retrieval
* Use of transcription machines for typing of dictation
* Experience of maintaining a comprehensive computerised filing system
* Accurate Message taking.
* Experience in information analysis and provision of statistical reports
* RiO trained
* Accurate and timely completion of paperwork in connection with staff i.e. Appraisal paperwork, timesheets, and sickness absence. HR forms.
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
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
£24,937 to £26,598 per annum (pro rata)
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