Senior Medical Secretary

Job Overview

To provide a comprehensive secretarial service and support to assigned consultant(s) and their team by:

• Providing a complete medical secretarial service including word processing, audio typing, scanning and the composition of letters. To provide a fast and accurate copy and audio typing service to the department, producing clinic letters and other documents.
• Preparing and organising papers for meetings, attending and taking notes when necessary.

Main duties of the job

To assist the Cardiology Admin Manager in the management of the secretarial staff by:

• Organising and ensuring the smooth running of the secretarial functions within the department, including implementing processes
• Developing computerised systems for managing information and paperwork within the office.
• Carrying out the day to day supervision of secretarial staff within the department
• Carrying out appraisals

To be the department resource and expert in administration process and computer systems by:

• Providing support and ensuring staff receive appropriate training
• Acting as a “trouble shooter”.
• Identifying ways of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the functioning of an office / systems

Working for our organisation

We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group - a formal partnership between the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.

We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.

By working together, we make a real difference for our patients, each other, and our community. Every role matters in delivering the exceptional, person‑centred care we’re proud of.

We’re committed to a compassionate, inclusive culture where kindness is championed, differences are valued, and diversity makes us stronger.

We want to support you to thrive, taking your career to its full potential. We prioritise staff wellbeing – and yes, we even have a pool!

Discover what it’s like to live and work in Bath, explore our RUH staff benefits, and learn how we’re building healthcare for the future through the Dyson Cancer Centre and our commitment to research.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Medical Secretary Responsibilities

To provide a comprehensive secretarial service and support to assigned consultant(s) and their team by:

• Providing a complete medical secretarial service including word processing, filing, audio dictation and typing, photocopying and the composition of letters. To provide a fast and accurate copy and typing service to the department, producing clinic letters and other documents.
• Preparing and organising papers for meetings, attending and taking notes when necessary.
• Liaising with Nurses, Doctors and other members of the multi - disciplinary team including Outpatient Bookings teams to provide a quality service for the patients.
• Working as part of a team sharing responsibility for the smooth running of the Department.
• Providing a first point of contact, answering all telephone inquiries, taking and relaying messages in a polite and helpful manner, and using own judgement to establish the priority of issues and taking action as appropriate.
• Assisting with the smooth running of the consultant(s)’s diary and organising meetings and rotas etc. on the consultant(s)’s behalf as appropriate.
• Dealing with incoming correspondence, using initiative as appropriate to expedite issues.
• Deal with and learn from patient complaints, changing practice following lessons learnt from responses.
• Developing and maintaining relevant computerised filing systems.
• To make best use of information technology, i.e. Windows / Office Software and to be involved with the changing technology as this becomes available.
• To assist in the fast track treatment for patients with cancer if applicable.
• To maintain an efficient system for the tracing of health records.
• To provide secretarial cover across the directorate as directed.
• To be flexible to the needs of the Specialty, Division and Trust.
• To assist in the induction of new staff.

Management Responsibilities

To assist the Divisional Management for Medicine in the management of the secretarial staff by:

• Organising and ensuring the smooth running of the secretarial functions within the department.
• Developing computerised systems for managing information and paperwork within the office.
• Carrying out the day-to-day supervision of secretariat within the department.
• Ensuring an appropriate level of secretarial cover is maintained at all times by coordinating and monitoring requests for leave etc.
• Ensuring an accurate record of sick and annual leave taken by administrative staff within the department.
• Taking part in recruitment, selection and induction of secretarial staff.
• Lead the administrative team in supporting waiting list validation and performance management.
• Undertaking staff appraisal to identify development and training needs. Liaising with the Specialty Manager for advice and provision of appropriate training and development opportunities.
• Identifying and deal with performance management issues, i.e. conduct, performance, sickness / ill health etc. in line with Trust policy.
• Ensuring mandatory training for all the secretarial team is up to date.
• Maintain and coordinate the typing rota, ensuring fair and effective allocation of workload across the team to meet service deadlines and priorities.

Person specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential criteria

• Word processing / audio typing qualifications or RSA level II or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL)

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant previous secretarial experience
• First-rate knowledge of good secretarial practice and how this should be applied
• Able to learn medical terminology (following a period of learning on the job if necessary) and use this effectively as part of the role.

Desirable criteria

• Experience within the NHS or similar health care setting
• Previous medical secretarial experience
• Previous supervisory experience
• Awareness of hospital practices

Values

Essential criteria

• Values and respects others, treats everyone as an individual, is non-judgemental Motivated to be genuinely kind and caring Helps and co-operates with colleagues Pro-active and takes responsibility Willing to learn, open to change Motivated to make a difference in whatever way they can Takes pride in themselves, their appearance, their role and where
• Motivated to be genuinely kind and caring
• Helps and co-operates with colleagues
• Pro-active and takes responsibility
• Willing to learn, open to change
• Motivated to make a difference in whatever way they can
• Takes pride in themselves, their appearance, their role and where they work.

Desirable criteria

• Values and respects others, treats everyone as an individual, is non-judgemental Motivated to be genuinely kind and caring Helps and co-operates with colleagues Pro-active and takes responsibility Willing to learn, open to change Motivated to make a difference in whatever way they can Takes pride in themselves, their appearance, their role and where

Specific Skills

Essential criteria

• Computer literate in Microsoft Word and Outlook
• Accurate and fast audio typing skills
• Highly effective secretarial and organisational skills
• Ability to prioritise and manage own and others’ workload and time
• Ability to motivate, manage and develop staff including managing staff effectively using Trust procedures e.g. Managing Health & Sickness, Conduct etc.
• Ability to communicate effectively and sensitively at all levels to patients, relatives and staff inside & outside the Trust
• Excellent organisational skills – able to organise the paperwork and other systems within an office
• Enthusiastic and positive attitude to work with a willingness to learn new skills and encouraging others to do likewise
• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
• Ability to cope effectively under pressure and meet deadlines

Desirable criteria

• Computer literate in other Microsoft Office applications – e.g. PowerPoint, Excel etc.

Please note - Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered unless an alternative right to work solution can be provided. Candidates requiring sponsorship (or will need sponsorship at the end of a current visa e.g. those with graduate visa's) should review the eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying: Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if we receive a high number of applications. We strongly encourage you to complete and submit your application in good time to ensure it can be considered.

Documents to download

• Senior Medical Secretary- Job Description (PDF, 384.4KB)
• Join the RUH (PDF, 1.3MB)

Further details / informal visits contact

Name Rebecca Snow Job title Cardiology Admin Manager Email address ***email_hidden***