Support Medical Secretary

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations. Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

Main area: Administrative and Clerical

Grade: NHS AfC: Band 3

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Part time - 30 hours per week (1 x 15 hour per week, 2 x 30 hour per week available)

Job ref: 409-7351467

Site: Ormskirk District General Hospital

Town: Ormskirk

Salary: £24,937 - £26,598 pro rata, per annum

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 09/11/2025 23:59

Interview date: 17/11/2025

The Community & Clinical Support Services at Ormskirk Hospital site are looking to appoint support medical secretaries to provide a comprehensive service with minimal supervision to specialties within the division. The successful candidate would be required to type clinical correspondence from audio across both medical and surgical specialties.

• 1 x 15 hour per week Support Medical Secretary – to work Thursday and Friday each week based at Ormskirk Hospital
• 2 x 30 hour per week Support Medical Secretaries – days/hours to be discussed at interview and can be worked at either Southport or Ormskirk Hospital sites.

Main duties of the job:

• Applicants must have a sound knowledge of medical terminology and ideally qualified to at least RSA level 3 / OCR typing and word processing or equivalent. AMSPAR certification is desirable.
• You must be proficient in audio typing and Microsoft Office packages. Training on in-house systems will be provided.
• You will need to be able to work to tight deadlines and withstand the pressure of working for a busy team.
• It is essential you are able to work on your own initiative.

Working for our organisation:

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services include:

• Acute Care: Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
• Primary Care: Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
• Community Services: Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire.
• Specialist Regional Services: We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Working as part of a support medical secretary team to support the clinical workforce.
• Typing of clinical correspondence using digital/audio systems.
• Work across both medical and surgical specialties to ensure typing targets are met.
• Provide support to the medical secretaries as required.
• The post holder will carry out the duties in such a way as to make a direct and positive contribution to the organisation of the workload.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: NVQ III or equivalent experience, RSA II / III Typing or Word Processing, Knowledge of medical terminology, AMSPAR Diploma, European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).
• Experience: Previous secretarial experience with knowledge of secretarial/administrative procedures and systems, Previous Medical Secretary experience, Knowledge of Data Protection, Previous NHS experience, Knowledge of Microsoft Office Software Package.
• Skills: Able to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, both internal and external, Ability to work as a member of a team, Excellent interpersonal skills, Flexible working approach, Ability to plan and organise own workload to meet targets.

Other:

• Committed to self-development to meet the requirements of the role.
• Ability to concentrate for prolonged periods when transcribing medical audio dictation in a predictable work pattern.
• Ability to deal with distressed patients or relatives when answering telephone.
• Ability to cope with frequent indirect exposure to distressing or emotional situations in content of clinical correspondence.
• Continuous use of computer / keyboard.
• Use of trolleys to transport case notes.
• Continuous use of VDU.
• Working in an office environment.

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under-represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk.

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship: Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update: For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK. Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to understand how to generate an eVisa share code.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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. Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working: We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that all employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment. There is no limit on the number of requests they can make. Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason. At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL: Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information: Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here. An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents. Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.