Job overview
Are you an experienced Medical Secretary who enjoys working in a busy environment and would like to be part of a dynamic team supporting the Special Care Dentistry Service? You will be working on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8am - 4.30pm and be based at Chorley and South Ribble District General Hospital. You will be part of a team helping to improve our patients' engagement and experiences, and reduce our waiting lists for treatment.
Our Medical Secretaries provide a professional and comprehensive secretarial and administrative service. They support the Clinical Director, Consultants and clinical teams by ensuring the efficient channelling of communication between medical staff, GPs, patients, relatives, and teams.
You will have excellent organisational skills, be confident in your IT and communication skills, be able to exercise initiative and demonstrate a consistently high standard of professionalism, and be aware of the need for confidentiality and integrity.
These are challenging, yet exciting times for our hospitals as we move forward into the new collaborative NHS world in which our roles and relationships will take greater prominence as the NHS recovers from the Covid Pandemic. What will not change is our vision to always provide excellent care with compassion to our communities. Our ambition, success, identity, and values remain important in recruiting and retaining the best staff as well as developing and delivering excellent services.
Main duties of the job
Within the Surgery Directorate, we really value our Medical Secretaries, they play an important role in the day to day running of our clinical services, making sure that patient care is at the forefront of all we do. Within the Head and Neck Service, we provide care for cancer, urgent and routine patients in clinics and in theatres.
This is a very busy and varied role; no day is ever the same. As a Medical Secretary, on a typical day you will undertake various administrative duties, have regular contact with patients and all members of the clinical team, as well as ensuring the smooth running of the Special Care Dentistry Service, making sure our patients get the best possible care.
We are known as being a friendly and supportive team; this will be a varied and challenging role for someone with a passion for making a difference. If you have previous Medical Secretary experience, and are flexible in your approach, this role could be the one for you.
It is important that we get the right person so we are looking for someone who has the right behaviours, skills and willingness to learn.
Working for our organisation
At Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, we take pride in caring for our staff as well as our patients. We recognise that working in a busy environment requires help with a healthy work-life balance. We also believe in ensuring that our staff get the chance to reach their full potential when working with us, which is why we open lots of doors for career progression once you join our team. With us, the sky truly is the limit!
We have 10000 fantastic people working hard to deliver quality services to our patients. Whatever your role, you help look after 370,000 people in our local area and give specialist care to 1.5 million people across Lancashire and Cumbria.
Working with us gives you the knowledge and sense of pride that every activity you do genuinely does make a difference to support our patients and staff, ensuring we keep thriving and delivering outstanding healthcare right across our local towns.
You will have access to varied development opportunities, learn new skills, meet fab people and do things you would never have done.
You will make an impact, be challenged to think differently, be bold and help innovate to keep improving things. Everything we do centres around patient care and enhancing their experience which means your role is pivotal and something really to be proud of.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For more information, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
1. Provide secretarial / administrative services to Consultants and their clinical team by perusing and distributing incoming correspondence, disseminating information, composing reports and correspondence, maintaining up-to-date filing systems, booking systems and continuously developing administrative practices to ensure order and efficiency in the office.
2. Represent the Head and Neck Speciality Business Unit, responding to external and internal telephone queries from staff, patients and others and referring to appropriate person, acting in a professional, courteous manner at all times.
3. Handle customer concerns either by telephone or in person in order to achieve immediate local resolution whenever possible, in accordance with the Trust’s complaints procedure.
4. Communicate with a range of staff, users and visitors to the Trust / Department utilising a variety of communication methods including verbal, electronic and passing information in a format that is appropriate to the individual request.
5. Chase progress on all issues with appropriate persons as and when necessary to ensure that deadlines are met.
6. Maintain efficient and effective administrative systems, including bring forward, and message taking.
7. Plan and organise own work and allocate work to the Support Medical Secretary and Audio Typist, ensuring files and papers are available and up to date, providing briefings for the day’s activities, highlighting deadlines and potential conflicts of interest.
Person specification
Qualifications and Education
Essential criteria
8. Good general education to GCSE standard or equivalent
9. Secretarial qualifications, minimum of RSA Grade III in typing or equivalent
Desirable criteria
10. Shorthand qualifications
11. ECDL Qualification
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
12. Secretarial experience
13. Understanding of the structure and workings of the NHS
14. Previous Medical Secretary experience
15. Knowledge of Medical Terminology
Skills and Abilities
Essential criteria
16. Advanced IT skills in Microsoft Office applications
17. Accuracy of audio typing
18. Able to work as part of a team
19. Able to work under pressure
20. Able to use own initiative and work without supervision
21. Able to prioritise work
22. Excellent communication skills
23. Ability to liaise and coordinate with other teams
24. Excellent organisational skills
Desirable criteria
25. High quality report writing and presentation skills
26. Ability to minute meetings accurately