Personal Medical Secretary NHS AfC: Band 4

Job overview

The Medical Care Group at Whiston Hospital is looking to appoint a Personal Medical Secretary to provide a comprehensive service with the minimum of supervision within the Medicine for Older People Department.

The successful applicant will be able to organise their own workload and co-ordinate workload activities with other Personal Medical Secretaries in the team. The successful candidates will be of a pleasant disposition, have excellent interpersonal skills and a friendly telephone manner.

Applicants will be proficient in the use of audio-typing and word-processing packages and qualified to at least RSA Level 3/OCR typing/word-processing or equivalent. Knowledge of medical terminology is essential. Possession of the AMSPAR certificate is desirable. Experience of using Microsoft Office software and the Medway system is an advantage but training will be provided if necessary.

There is a need to be able to work to tight deadlines and withstand the pressure of a busy department and it is essential that you are able to work on your own initiative.

Interview date 4th February 2022

Main duties of the job

• To provide a comprehensive secretarial service to the Consultant, Doctors and Speciality Team including nurse clinicians.
• Manage all departmental rotas and on-call rotas ensuring that annual/study leave and sickness do not compromise the smooth running and the department. Liaise with Medical Staffing to arrange locum cover. If emergency need is requested by members of clinical team ensure this is covered accordingly liaising closely with Clinical Director or dedicated clinical person for rota management
• Preparation of departmental induction and teaching programme for junior doctors/students taking an active part in departmental induction.
• Monitoring of the use of annual and study leave for all doctors ensuring that the correct level of cover is provided at all times. This would also include the arrangement of cover during examinations and junior doctor rotation.
• Monitoring of the use of annual and study leave for all doctors ensuring that the correct level of cover is provided at all times. This would also include the arrangement of cover during examinations and junior doctor rotation.

Working for our organisation

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the only acute Trust in Cheshire and Merseyside, and one of the few in the entire country, to achieve the title of OUTSTANDING, rated by the Care Quality Commission.

We provide a full range of acute adult services to our local population of circa 360,000 and provide tertiary services across a much wider area in the North West, North Wales and Isle of Man. We are a Major Trauma Unit and the Mersey Regional Burns Unit.

Our ’5 Star Patient Care’ strategy is at the heart of all that we do; supporting our vision to provide world class services for all our patients by getting it right for every patient, every time.

Our latest achievements include:

• Acute Trust of the Year – HSJ Awards November 2019
• Trust rates Outstanding by the CQC – Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers and Health Service Journal)
• Best acute Trust in England for quality of care for the 3rd year running (NHS Staff Survey)

In the NHS Staff Survey 2020 the Trust scored the highest marks in the following areas;

• Quality of care
• Staff engagement
• Support from managers

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Type discharge summaries as appropriate
• Check against clinical letters to ensure appropriate follow up arrangements/investigations are in place. Rectify if not.
• To manage and maintain 18 week pathways including Tertiary Referrals to external Trusts and ensure these are completed on the PAS system. Keep track of referrals to ensure patient is reviewed promptly. Check that follow up appointments are arranged in conjunction with Referral To Treat (RTT) patient pathway.
• Support Consultant in non-clinical activities/Clinical Director role by preparing presentation documents using relevant packages and arranging meetings, circulate agenda/supporting papers as appropriate, and taking minutes at meetings.
• Ensure appropriate personnel are informed of consultant annual/study leave. Amend clinic/theatre lists/forms appropriately. Keep Consultants informed of junior doctor leave could have an effect on the service.
• Arrange planned patient admission to Hospital liaising with the appropriate ward and admissions department.