Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone.
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full-time Medical Secretary in the Gastroenterology department at Lewisham Hospital.
We are seeking for dedicated, motivated, proactive person to join our team to help us provide high quality care to our patients.
You must enjoy working in a busy environment and be able to prioritise your own workload. You will need good interpersonal skills with the ability to work as part of a team, be IT literate, and able to work well under pressure in a fast paced environment.
The successful candidate will be the first point of contact for patients, and other service users and will proactively deal with telephone enquiries from patients and colleagues in a professional manner.
Candidates should have previous medical secretarial experience and should have excellent typing skills. The ability to communicate effectively to different staff and patient groups as well as good organisational skills is essential.
The role requires comprehensive working knowledge of Microsoft Office and iCare – although full training for Trust systems can be provided for the right candidate.
Main duties of the job
To act as first point of contact on behalf of the consultant and the Trust and dealeffectively
and courteously with all enquiries from GPs, patients/carers, other departments within
the Trust and external bodies.
To produce correspondence and reports by the use of audio transcription technology/D
scribe.
To type urgent clinical letters, including those of a sometimes distressing oremotional
nature from audiotape or direct dictation as agreed.
To organise and support meetings on behalf of the Consultant and the Consultant’steam,
taking and distributing minutes as required.
To deal with all telephone calls relating to the service, ensuring patient focus is maintained
and enquiries are handled in a courteous, tactful and prompt manner andrespecting
patient confidentiality at all times.
EB January 2016
To prioritise and process incoming correspondence and ensure that it is dealt with
promptly by the appropriate member of staff.
Working for our organisation
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is a community focused provider of local and acute care, providing high quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley. With a turnover of around £700 million, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham and a range of community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To act as first point of contact on behalf of the consultant and the Trust and deal effectively and courteously with all enquiries from GPs, patients/carers, other departments within the Trust and external bodies.
To produce correspondence and reports by the use of audio transcription technology/D scribe.
To type urgent clinical letters, including those of a sometimes distressing or emotional nature from audiotape or direct dictation as agreed.
To organise and support meetings on behalf of the Consultant and the Consultant’s team, taking and distributing minutes as required.
To deal with all telephone calls relating to the service, ensuring patient focus is maintained and enquiries are handled in a courteous, tactful and prompt manner and respecting patient confidentiality at all times.
Person specification
Essential criteria
6. GCSEs or equivalent
7. SA3 Typing/Word Processing or other recognized qualification or equivalent experience
8. AMSPAR qualification level 2/3
Desirable criteria
9. NVQ4 in admin
10. EDCL or similar IT qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
11. Significant experience in medical secretarial and/orPersonal Assistant to senior level staff.
12. Computer skills Excel, Word & Power Point
13. Experience of managing competing and varieddemands
14. Audio Typing
Desirable criteria
15. Use of Digital Dictation System
Knowledge andSkills
Essential criteria
16. Clear handwriting, spelling, grammar & numeracy.
17. Ability to use initiative and work unsupervised
18. To have a systematic and methodical approach towork with attention to detail
19. Ability to demonstrate good interpersonal, oral and written communication skills especially when dealing with highly sensitive information and where there are barriers to understanding.
20. Ability to demonstrate good organisational skills and to prioritise/manage own workload in a demanding environment
21. Ability to meet deadlines.
22. Ability to deal tactfully and sympathetically withmembers of the public and professionals.
23. Sound experience working within the NHS or Medical Service Organisation
Personal Quality
Essential criteria
24. Ability to demonstrate an understanding and respect for confidentiality
25. Ability to work closely with team members and external parties
26. Responsive to change and ideas, adapt to new systems
27. Ability to work flexibly
28. Ability to work under pressure.
29. Motivation to participate in personal and professional development programs.
30. Ability to recognise when to see support.Good leadership skills
We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.
As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.
Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.
Applicant requirements
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.
Application numbers
To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.
We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.