Medical Secretary (XN03) in Leeds

The Plastic and Reconstructive department is looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated individual to provide secretarial support to a team in a full-time role on a permanent basis. If you want to work in a busy office environment as part of a team that is committed to providing an effective and efficient admin service to the patients and clinical teams within Plastic Surgery, then we want to hear from you.

The varied workload requires a flexible approach to work and the ability to multi-task, whilst maintaining a professional attitude and high standards of customer care. The successful applicant would be based at Leeds General Infirmary.

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the role support the delivery of the Plastic Surgery Clinic Letters, working on the reception desks L46, typing patients letters to a trust standard, and updating details on the Patient Administration and other systems will all be key parts of the role (amongst others). You would be providing a service to our patients face to face, through telephone calls and via email.

About us

Our Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery team care for adults and children with many different conditions. We have one of the largest microsurgery services in the UK providing pioneering treatment of the highest calibre. We have the largest children's hand surgery service within the UK, offering a comprehensive package of care. This includes Children's Hand Surgery, upper limb spasticity and Erbs Palsy. We have a dedicated Hand Surgery unit. Our surgeons performed the first-hand transplant in the UK, with the support of health professionals within Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE/SUMMARY

To provide a comprehensive and high quality medical secretarial service to support clinical teams (Consultants, their medical teams e.g. junior medical staff or specialist nursing staff as appropriate) in delivering high quality care to the patients of Leeds and beyond. This role will additionally make a key contribution in improving the patient experience by supporting Directorate teams with the movement of patients through their 18-week pathway or other national waiting time standards as appropriate.

The post-holder will:

• Work as part of a team to ensure that all clinical correspondence is turned around in a timely manner to allow patients to move through their pathway without any delays.
• Work with Consultants and their medical teams.
• Manage their workload in line with departmental requirements or as identified by the Senior Medical Secretary.
• Deal with patient enquiries.
• Play a key role in ensuring that patients move systematically through their pathways by ensuring that the next steps are in the pipeline.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Clinical Correspondence & Support to Clinical Services

• Typing/proof reading clinical correspondence relating to outpatient and inpatient attendances and other patient related correspondence on behalf of the consultant and clinical teams.
• Use a range of IT skills to support the clinical work of the consultant e.g. use of databases and spreadsheets.
• Support administrative process as deemed appropriate by the PSC.
• To support the clinical teams in the delivery of excellent patient care by actively working with colleagues and other Departments to ensure that all patients registered within the service are proactively supported through their patient journey.
• Any other general administrative duties associated with the consultant/clinical team outpatient and inpatient workload.
• Answer phone calls and deal with enquiries relating to patients and clinical work from a variety of sources, directly resolving where possible or transferring to appropriate personnel.
• Liaise with GPs, hospital staff and others on behalf of consultant in relation to clinical workload.
• In conjunction with other Team Medical Secretaries and under the supervision of the Patient Services Co to work collectively as a team proactively planning workloads to meet different deadlines and timescales.
• Create and maintain appropriate record systems relating to clinical workload e.g. tests and results spreadsheets.
• Provide guidance to clerical support officers as necessary.
• Ensure that health records are tracked on entering and leaving the Department and stored in an appropriate manner in line with Trust Policy and patient confidentiality.
• Ensure that health records are maintained to a high standard at all times.
• All documentation and investigation results must be securely filed in the correct section in chronological order.
• Support Data Quality Indicators by ensuring that patient information is accurate and updated on relevant paper and computerised systems.
• Access information systems to obtain clinical information as required by the medical teams including investigation results or other information.
• Work as part of the team to ensure that all phone calls are answered within the department during core office hours.
• Provide information to PSC/Assistant PSC, as appropriate, relating to workload and work outstanding.
• Provide cover for other team secretaries/clerical staff when on annual leave or sick leave.

Person Specification

Skills & behaviours

• Interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to deal with enquiries in an appropriate and supportive manner.
• Ability to deal with sensitive and emotive information.
• Prioritising and managing workload to meet deadlines.
• Organisational skills and time management.
• Understanding of customer care principles.

Experience

• Secretarial experience.
• Using Microsoft office packages including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Use of patient information systems, such as PAS.
• A broad understanding of medical terminology and its use within clinical correspondence.
• Data Protection Act in relation to patient confidentiality and the appropriate care of patient information.
• Use of PPM and other department-relevant systems e.g. Mosaic.

Qualifications

• GCSE Grade C or above (or equivalent e.g. AMSPAR Level 2) in English and Maths.
• Audio typing/Word Processing Skills RSA II or equivalent experience.
• 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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.