GP Assistant- phlebotomy in Downham Market

General Practice Assistants (GPAs) form part of a multi-disciplinary team within primary care and support the clinicians in the smooth running of the surgery by handling routine administration and some basic clinical duties enabling the clinician to focus on the patient. Ultimately the aim is to improve the patients access/experience in practice. If you are looking for a new challenge with the opportunity to apply your existing knowledge and skills whilst also developing a new skillset, in a brand new role making a difference to patients then this could just be the opportunity for you! Full training will be provided.

The General Practice Assistant (GPA) will provide high-quality phlebotomy services to patients registered with the practice, supporting the clinical team in delivering safe, effective and patient-centred care. The post holder will undertake venepuncture clinics and associated administrative duties, ensuring that specimens are collected, labelled and processed in accordance with practice protocols and national guidance.

In addition to phlebotomy responsibilities, the GPA at times may be asked to support the wider practice team with a wider range of clinical and administrative tasks as delegated and appropriate to their training and competency.

Main responsibility of this role will be to undertake regular venepuncture procedures for adult patients in accordance with practice policies, infection prevention and control standards and professional guidance. Other additional responsibilities at times may encompass the following duties:

• Supporting clinicians with undertaking basic clinical activity prior to planned clinics such as history taking, conducting urinalysis, taking blood pressure readings, checking a pulse & possibly doing ECGs. (Training will be provided for any clinical activity that is required)
• Creating & maintaining personalised & patient centred care plans
• Sorting, prioritising & signposting incoming clinical correspondence, extracting required information & applying medical codes to patient records
• Summarising patient records, extracting required information & applying medical codes to digitised notes
• Supporting clinicians with administrative tasks.
• Complete basic (non-opinion) forms & core elements of some forms for the GP to approve & sign (such as insurance forms, mortgage, benefits agency forms etc.)
• Help the GP liaise with external agencies (such as arranging admissions so the GP can continue with their consultations)

About us: Based in West Norfolk, our PCN serves over 55,000 patients across our seven member Practices. We pride ourselves on offering our patients the best care possible, demonstrating innovation, clinical excellence and working collaboratively with our allied health care professionals across the network. We encourage career development provided by in house training programs and coaching support for external training and development opportunities.

The core responsibilities for this position will be to undertake venepuncture procedures for patients in accordance with practice policies, infection prevention and control standards and professional guidance. There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels. You will work within your capabilities and:

• Sorting of clinical post and prioritising, directly dealing with all routine clinical post.
• Extracting information from clinical letters that need coding supporting with clinical coding and summarising protocols.
• Preparing patients, explaining treatment procedures to patients, including arranging follow up appointments, taking a brief history and basic readings in readiness for the GP appointment.
• Arrange referrals on behalf of the clinician both internally or externally.
• Supporting clinicians with administrative tasks, input to the clinical computer system and assisting the clinician in a variety of clinics.
• Complete simple clinical observations/investigations as directed, such as dipstick urine, taking blood pressure, ECGs, phlebotomy, etc.
• Complete basic (non-opinion) forms and core elements of some forms for the GP to approve and sign.
• Help the GP liaise with external agencies.
• Supporting with QOF reviews.
• Supporting the recall system for Long Term Condition reviews.

This job description is not exhaustive and is seen as a guideline for the post. The post holder may be required to undertake other duties to achieve the Trust objectives which are commensurate with the grading of the post.

Qualifications: GP Assistant Certificate qualification/willingness to undertake a GPA training course.

Experience: Experience of working in a healthcare environment, experience of working with the general public, experience using SystmOne and/or EMIS, experience with General Practice, experience of dealing with a range of clinical conditions.

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.