Medical Secretary, Band 3 - Microbiology

at  Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

This is an excellent opportunity for a suitably qualified and experienced person to join the Microbiology Department as a Medical Secretary. The Microbiology laboratory is located on the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital site and provides an extensive service to the two acute hospitals, smaller local hospitals and to GPs in Gloucestershire and South Worcestershire. The current laboratory workload is approximately 380,000 specimens a year.
Key duties include diary and email management for the medical staff, dealing with telephone enquiries, meetings support and general clerical tasks.
The successful candidate will be reliable, enthusiastic, motivated and forward thinking. They will demonstrate good interpersonal skills and must be a team player.
The secretarial team provides support for the six Consultant Microbiologists and senior laboratory staff, with offices on both hospital sites. Key duties include diary and email management for the medical staff, dealing with telephone enquiries, meetings support and general clerical tasks.
The Department of Microbiology is based on the GRH hospital site in Gloucester, but also includes offices on the CGH site. The laboratory provides an extensive service to the two hospitals and GP surgeries in Gloucestershire. The laboratory has a staff team of about 60 people, including scientific and medical roles. The core working hours are 0830 to 1700, Monday to Friday.
The department has a long history of training and developing staff in different roles. It is approved as a training laboratory by the Institute of Biomedical Science, and has been accredited by UKAS to the ISO15189 standards.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Educated to GCSE grade C or above (or equivalent) in literacy and numeracy
• NVQ level three in administration or equivalent experience with a appropriate years’ experience in a hospital or office environment
• IT experience of Microsoft Office packages
• IT capable to ensure proficient use of hospital computer systems
• An excellent, professional telephone manner to minimise conflict, resolve queries and maintain the reputation of the organisation when dealing with all calls
• Proven organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workload and to work to deadlines
• Good written and verbal communication skills with a good command and understanding of English, punctuation and grammar
• Good interpersonal skills for dealing with people internal and external to the organisation
• Ability to work flexibly within a team
• Ability to work quickly and accurately
• Ability to use own judgement and initiative as appropriate

Speciality Specific Support Role

• Receive and direct clinical telephone enquiries to the consultant staff, taking messages where necessary.
• Cover the Andrology Appointment Line on a rotational basis, booking patients for semen analysis testing.
• Take, transcribe and distribute minutes as appropriate
• Typing detailed medical reports for legal use when necessary
• Supporting consultant medical staff by assisting with the production/transcription of medical staffing paperwork, such as references etc.
• Diary management, including making appointments, booking meeting dates and venues, organising and distributing paperwork as required by the clinical team/supervisor.
• Supporting consultant staff with their additional responsibilities, such as clinical governance, Clinical Tutor role, etc. This may include setting up training days, teaching sessions, organising visitors, etc.
• Assist in the maintenance of the consultant clinical notes.
• Completing consultant annual leave and study leave requests and travel claims.
• Highlighting to the clinical team members any results, correspondence or patient queries that need response and taking action e.g., booking investigations, transcription, etc
• Regularly informing the clinical scientist about progress and flagging up as a matter of urgency any issues, for example, capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients, etc
• To work as part of a team; working flexibly to ensure that administrative work is shared out equally and performed to excellent, efficient and safe standards
• To cover colleagues during absences/annual/sick leave as directed by the secretary supervisor. You may also be required to undertake job rotation for cross cover as well as for development and training purposes.
• Undertaking routine office duties including electronic note tracking, photocopying, faxing and filing of correspondence and results and maintenance of records.
• Assist in the training and induction for new and existing colleagues
• Take the initiative as and when required as well as working flexibly and adapting to the demands of the department/team as appropriate
• Liaise with relevant team members to ensure that any process changes run smoothly and efficiently.
• Undertake any other appropriate duties commensurate with the role, as required at the request of your line manager.

Semen Cryo-preservation Service

• Responsible for providing administrative support for the semen cryopreservation facility.
• Responsible for maintaining the patient database; including patient records, tracing and contacting patients and partners, correspondence, reports and audits.
• To be part of the Cryopreservation management team, helping to ensure the continued licensing of the department with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
• Liaise with the Andrology Laboratory Lead Scientist, Clinical Leads and Oncology Department.

Service Improvement

• Using speciality databases for recording patient information/clinic activity for audit/survey purposes, as well as sending out any associated paperwork. Regular audit of data is undertaken and decisions can then be made by the department/team as to appropriate service improvements.
• Support the development of improvements to working practices and processes and contribute to service reviews and the implementation of new arrangements.
• As directed, support the resolution of complaints or concerns from patients/carers by helping to collate information and work with the supervisor to respond or escalate appropriately.

Information Technology

• Fast and accurate keyboard skills.
• Use of telephone systems to answer, transfer and divert he clinical lines.
• Searching for patient data into the electronic patient record system and laboratory computer system.
• Use of a various software packages used in the department e.g., Microsoft Office, Outlook, Document control software, patient tracing systems, Electronic Patient records.
• Setting up, attending and minuting meetings using MS Teams.
• Maintaining andrology appointment database.

Training

• Attendance and completion of the hospital induction programme.
• Completion of Pathology induction programme.
• Attendance at the mandatory Trust training programmes.
• Participation in formal individual performance reviews in line with Trust policy, agree annual objectives with the section supervision and review progress against these objectives.
• Undertake training on new IT systems as required.

• Receive and direct clinical telephone enquiries to the consultant staff, taking messages where necessary.
• Cover the Andrology Appointment Line on a rotational basis, booking patients for semen analysis testing.
• Take, transcribe and distribute minutes as appropriate
• Typing detailed medical reports for legal use when necessary
• Supporting consultant medical staff by assisting with the production/transcription of medical staffing paperwork, such as references etc.
• Diary management, including making appointments, booking meeting dates and venues, organising and distributing paperwork as required by the clinical team/supervisor.
• Supporting consultant staff with their additional responsibilities, such as clinical governance, Clinical Tutor role, etc. This may include setting up training days, teaching sessions, organising visitors, etc.
• Assist in the maintenance of the consultant clinical notes.
• Completing consultant annual leave and study leave requests and travel claims.
• Highlighting to the clinical team members any results, correspondence or patient queries that need response and taking action e.g., booking investigations, transcription, etc
• Regularly informing the clinical scientist about progress and flagging up as a matter of urgency any issues, for example, capacity or delays due to internal or external factors, difficult queries from patients, etc
• To work as part of a team; working flexibly to ensure that administrative work is shared out equally and performed to excellent, efficient and safe standards
• To cover colleagues during absences/annual/sick leave as directed by the secretary supervisor. You may also be required to undertake job rotation for cross cover as well as for development and training purposes.
• Undertaking routine office duties including electronic note tracking, photocopying, faxing and filing of correspondence and results and maintenance of records.
• Assist in the training and induction for new and existing colleagues
• Take the initiative as and when required as well as working flexibly and adapting to the demands of the department/team as appropriate
• Liaise with relevant team members to ensure that any process changes run smoothly and efficiently.
• Undertake any other appropriate duties commensurate with the role, as required at the request of your line manager