Senior Medical Secretary Band 4

NHS; Gateshead; On-site; GBP 22,000 - GBP 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Gateshead is seeking a Senior Medical Secretary for the Anaesthetic, Critical Care, and Pain Department. The candidate should provide high-quality administrative support, manage clinician schedules, and maintain patient pathways. Key requirements include previous medical secretarial experience in an NHS setting, RSA 3 typing skills, and effective communication abilities. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to patient care in a structured environment.

Benefits

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Staff networks for support

Qualifications

• Previous medical secretarial experience in an acute medical setting required.
• Proficient in the use of Windows and Microsoft Word.
• Good understanding of medical terminology.

Responsibilities

• Provide efficient administrative support to clinicians.
• Manage diaries and support software systems.
• Handle patient queries and third-party communications.

Skills

Effective written and oral communication skills

Organisational planning skills

Ability to work autonomously

Knowledge of Careflow system

Education

NVQ 3 Certificate in Business Administration or equivalent experience

RSA 3 in Typing or Word Processing or equivalent experience

Tools

Microsoft Office packages

Job description

Senior Medical Secretary , Anaesthetic, Critical Care and Pain Department (Band 4)

Applications are invited from hard working and organised individuals to provide a high quality secretarial and senior administrative service based within the Anaesthetic Department within the Division of Surgery, Women's Health and Children. You will be based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Main duties of the job

You should have previous medical secretarial experience, preferably within an acute medical setting and have knowledge of a full range of secretarial procedures, a working knowledge of a variety of software programmes and RSA/OCR Level 3 typing/audio/word processing or an equivalent level of experience. You need to have a good understanding of medical terminology.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential together with excellent organisational and planning skills. You should be proficient in the use of Windows, Microsoft Word. A working knowledge of Careflow would also be an advantage.

The post holder will be expected to manage their own workload and will be required to use a significant amount of initiative and discretion in the discharge of all duties, handling queries/enquiries efficiently and professionally.

Duties will include typing clinical letters for the team using digital dictation (Winscribe), booking and sending out appointment letters, handling case notes, requesting orphan data filing, managing waiting lists and co-ordinating admission dates. Accessing and entering data into a number of different computer systems is also a key part of the role such as Careflow, ICE, Filefast and Bluespier.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust operates a "No-Smoking Policy"

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the 'golden thread' which runs through everything we do - they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronymICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the BAME network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our armed forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our 'Balance' programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Job responsibilities

• Overall responsibility for providing an efficient administrative support service to clinicians to meet internal and external standards/performance indicators.
• Line Management responsibility for staff in department/group or departmental process e.g. sickness absence (return to work interviews), appraisal, recruitment & selection, annual leave cover, Standing Operating Procedures, technological changes and MDT management/Virtual clinics.
• Provides support to identified clinicians: managing diaries; support with software systems, organising meetings, rotas, leave & associated cover, teaching, training, performance and induction activities.
• Investigate andate information for Inphase incidents/complaints as required by clinicians or service management.
• Oversee patient pathway (RTT, Diagnostics and Cancer) progress for nominated clinicians; calculating referral to treatment dates, monitoring progress and following up activity (e.g. investigations), liaising with Waiting List team as required, arranging inter provider referral & transfer of information and investigating potential breaches identified by the Waiting List Manager.
• Oversee the smooth running of nominated clinics; managing and maximising capacity, cancellations & rescheduling, arranging additional clinics and urgent patient appointments (< 1 week) within patient pathway requirements and Service Level Agreements.
• Main point of contact for patient and third parties (e.g. other clinicians, GP, police, social care, legal) to resolve queries, respond to requests for information or notify third party of information as required by clinicians.
• Provide information to assist performance reporting and resolution of queries or complaints (e.g. Inphase) as required.
• To provide a service for the transcription and typing of communications, taking/transcribing minutes of meetings/production of action logs in line with trust contracted timescales across the relevant service line through appropriate prioritisation delegation and supervision.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• NVQ 3 Certificate in Business Administration or equivalent experience
• RSA 3 in Typing or Word Processing or equivalent experience

Experience

• Experience of working in NHS or healthcare environment
• Experience of working in secretarial or office environment
• Experienced in using Microsoft Office packages
• Experience of problem solving non-routine issues
• Transcribing formal minutes of meetings and creating databases/spreadsheets
• Dealing with difficult patients/carers
• Experience of supervising/managing staff

Skills

• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to demonstrate good organisational planning skills
• Ability to work autonomously and also as part of a team, developing good working relationships with colleagues
• Knowledge of Careflow system

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.