Medical Secretary - Colchester

Job responsibilities

• To become an effective member of the Medical Secretariat, developing productive working relationships with other members of the team, developing and demonstrating a sound understanding of the aims and business activities of the Trust. To ensure that all dealings are conducted in a manner that reflects the professional reputation of the Secretariat.
• To work flexibly to provide efficient, high quality secretarial, administrative and support services to the Consultant and their medical colleagues as required and to maintain office cover.
• To produce documents such as clinic letters and discharge summaries. Clinicians reports, general correspondence, minutes and presentations, etc., using audio, shorthand or copy typing skills as required. This element of the job requires sustained concentration as it involves understanding the diverse accent and use of English of the doctor and the transcription of dictations that use medical terminologies, medications, abbreviations and local practices. There will be frequent interruptions requiring urgent/immediate response.
• Process case-notes of patients discharged from clinical caseloads; follow through ongoing care plans as indicated in reports. Allocate notes to relevant clinician or ensure that any standard letters are completed as appropriate. Where standard letters have been generated, ascertain from reports whether any supplementary letter/action is required and deal with appropriately.
• To ensure that follow up appointments or referrals to other specialties are arranged where necessary.
• Ensure that discharge summaries and other time-sensitive information are dictated and typed within the designated time limits.
• To manage and prioritise own workload appropriately, frequently under pressure, without supervision.
• To react quickly to urgent situations in order to coordinate an excellent service to patients/their carers, health professionals and other professional bodies.
• Excellent communication skills are vital: good relationships need to be established and maintained with other medical/professional staff (other external doctors) involved in patient care in order to ensure that these personnel engage in taking action where there is an urgent situation requiring their input.
• Excellent telephone skills are required to communicate with patients with neuro-developmental and neuro-disability health conditions. The medical secretary is the first point of contact for these patients. Extreme patience, understanding and sensitivities required in such situations: they can be time-consuming and the patient needs to be reassured that their situation will be attended to and a response given at the earliest opportunity.
• To pass on information received from patients/carers regarding their health condition, medication, problems they are experiencing, etc. to the Consultant and to ensure that this is done in an accurate and timely manner. This role is essential in the smooth running of patients care.
• To relay advice of a clinical nature to patients, carers, GPs and members of the clinical team, acting on the instructions of the Consultant, ensuring that this is done accurately and comprehensively.
• To maintain the upkeep of the Consultant's diary, to arrange meetings on their behalf, including the handling of associated administration such as room bookings, hospitality, the preparation and circulation of agendas and related papers as required and act as a point of contact for co-ordinating and ensuring that necessary details are made available to the Consultants and Speciality Doctors.
• To participate, as required, in the arrangements for training programmes/conferences, ensuring that the relevant documentation is processed and that all necessary practical arrangements are in place for events to run smoothly.
• To provide effective support to the Consultant in the various specialist he/she is involved (e.g. academic, research, arranging conferences, service development, clinical director, SI investigations, dealing with complaints, etc.), in order to provide a smooth and professional service in line with Trust policies.
• To record new patient referrals, ensuring that the information is processed appropriately within the Trust guidelines.
• To act as minute secretary at meetings/case conferences/working groups etc. when required, and to ensure that appropriate administrative follow-up action is taken.
• Liaise with Reception Administrators for Appointments etc. regarding follow up appointments and liaise with diagnostic services in arranging or expediting urgent or routine investigations.
• To arrange investigation appointments for patients at the request of the Consultant (e.g. bloods, EEGs, ECGs, X-rays, MRI Scans etc.) and, where appropriate, ensure all results are brought to the attention of the Consultant so that appropriate action can be taken.
• To coordinate actions for patients requiring admission, including liaison with the necessary professionals.
• Work as part of the clinical support team to ensure delivery of a comprehensive and effective administration service to clinical personnel across the directorate
• Provide advice and demonstrate own activities or workplace routines to new or less experienced employees within the team.
• To maintain confidentiality within the role with clinical changes to pathways across the EPUT.
• To maintain a good understanding of clinical risk and in the absence of the Consultant, take the initiative to sign post the patient in crisis to the appropriate services such as crisis teams/helplines and alert the relevant professionals of the situation. .
• To have a good working knowledge of the electronic patient records system used in the team. To participate in the process of updating these records with relevant information such as clinical information, personal data, email, telephone and paper based communications etc. in a timely fashion.
• To provide secretarial cover to other Consultant teams as necessary for colleagues on sick/annual leave and to work flexibly as a team member to ensure smooth and efficient flow of work through the service.
• To ...