Overview
Go back Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Medical Secretary, Cardiology, Band 3
The closing date is 10 February 2026
A 12-month fixed term position at 37.5 hours a week
Main duties of the job
* Provide a comprehensive secretarial and administrative service to the medical staff and their supporting team.
* Provide cover for colleagues in their absence to maintain service levels.
* Ensure excellent communication with patients, relatives, general practitioners and other hospital staff to provide a proficient, high-quality service for patients and clinicians.
* Ensure all clinics are used to their full capacity and that any vacant slots are fully utilised and acted upon, including informing the Booking Office, to maximise capacity.
* Regularly inform the secretarial supervisor about progress and flag up as a matter of urgency any issues (e.g., capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients).
* Carry out regular review and administrative validation of the clinician’s return outpatient wait list.
* Support the achievement of Trust performance by ensuring administrative standards are met (e.g., typing times, test results passed to clinician, and escalation of any potential 52-week breaches to the clinician, secretarial supervisor or AGM/DGM to avoid breach).
* Ensure all clinic cancellations/alterations are dealt with efficiently and in line with the Trust’s 8 week annual/study leave policy.
About us
I am delighted you are interested in the Medicine Division Medical Secretary position here at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We provide acute hospital services from two large district general hospitals, Cheltenham General Hospital and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Maternity Services are also provided at Stroud Maternity Hospital. We remain the major provider of secondary care services in the area and analysis shows that for Gloucestershire we are the leading acute healthcare provider by a significant margin.
Here at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, our patients are at the heart of everything we do, and pivotal to this are our Secretarial and Administration Teams, whose dedication, expertise and kindness ensures that patients receive the very best care throughout their pathway through our services. I wish you every success with your application to join this team.
Job responsibilities
* Typing correspondence to patients, GPs, medical staff and any other required addressee following clinical attendance or other patient contacts using digital dictation or via Dragon voice recognition.
* Typing detailed medical reports when necessary.
* Take and transcribe minutes as appropriate.
* Highlighting to the clinical team members any results, correspondence or patient queries that need response and taking action (e.g., booking investigations, transcription).
* Ensuring incoming post and results is sorted, any appropriate action taken and passed to the clinician on a daily basis.
* Ensuring that any vacant slots are fully utilised and acted upon, including informing the Booking Office, to maximise capacity.
* Deal with enquiries by letter/e-mail/telephone from patients, GPs, other hospitals, police, solicitors (via legal department), other consultants and management.
* Origination of procedures in negotiation with the clinical staff and patients as requested by the secretary supervisor, including identifying potential dates with the clinical team, negotiation of dates with the patient and any additional co-ordination of staff, equipment, stock, facilities, external support and paperwork.
* Carrying out regular review and administrative validation of the clinicians return outpatient wait list.
* Regularly informing the secretarial supervisor about progress and flagging up as a matter of urgency any issues (e.g., capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients).
* Liaising with external organisations for the benefit and progress of patient care, such as Social Services, other hospitals, etc.
* Support the development of improvements to working practices and processes and contribute to service reviews and the implementation of new arrangements.
* As directed, support the resolution of complaints or concerns from patients/carers by helping to collate information and work with the supervisor to respond or escalate appropriately.
* To work as part of an Administrative Support Team working flexibly to ensure that administrative work is shared out equally and performed to excellent, efficient and safe standards.
* To cover colleagues during absences/annual/sick leave as directed by the secretary supervisor. You may also be required to undertake job rotation for cross cover as well as for development and training purposes.
* Undertake routine office duties including electronic note tracking, photocopying, faxing, filing of correspondence and results and maintenance of records in the absence of the band 2 clerical assistant.
* Assist in the training and induction for new and existing colleagues. Take the initiative as and when required and work flexibly and adapting to the demands of the department/team as appropriate.
* Undertake any other appropriate duties commensurate with the role, as required at the request of your line manager.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Educated to GCSE grade C or above (or equivalent) in literacy and numeracy
* RSA Level three/Speed typing qualification or demonstrable experience (min 60 wpm)
* NVQ level three in administration or equivalent experience appropriate experience in a hospital or office environment
Experience
* Experience of working as a secretary
* IT experience of Microsoft Office packages
* IT capable to ensure proficient use of hospital computer systems
* Appropriate experience in a hospital or office environment
* Understanding and previous experience in medical terminology
Knowledge / Skills
* Able to prioritise own workload and that of others as appropriate
* Personally resilient and able to manage complexity and work in an ambiguous or changing environment.
* Excellent presentational, communication and interpersonal skills
* Good command and understanding of English, punctuation and grammar
* Proven organisational skills
* Able to take accurate and clear minutes of meetings and distribute them promptly
* Knowledge and awareness of health and safety issues, risk management, and data protection act
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 Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
£24,937 to £26,598 a year(pa, pro rata if part-time)
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