Medical Secretary/PA

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279); Brighton; On-site; CAD 50,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious healthcare institution is seeking a highly motivated Medical Secretary/PA to join their secretarial team at the Sussex Cancer Centre. This full-time role requires previous secretarial experience along with knowledge of medical terminology and audio transcription. Successful candidates will possess excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills, working closely with the clinical team in a supportive environment. The position involves managing a variety of administrative tasks and providing essential secretarial support. Salary ranges from £27,485 to £30,162 per annum.

Qualifications

• Must be able to work well under pressure and in challenging conditions.
• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills required.
• Ability to prioritise and work flexibly within the existing team.

Responsibilities

• Provide a comprehensive secretarial and administrative service to Clinicians.
• Manage own workload and act independently.
• Communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders.

Skills

Audio typing

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Knowledge of medical terminology

Time management

Education

Experience in administrative/secretarial role

Good working knowledge of medical terminology

Tools

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)

Job description

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)

Medical Secretary/PA

The closing date is 04 January 2026

We require a highly motivated and experienced Medical Secretary/PA to join our secretarial team working in a friendly, positive and supportive environment.

The available posts are full‑time; part‑time hours will be considered if service needs can be met. This is an office based role with successful applicants required to work on site at the Sussex Cancer Centre.

You will be working within an established secretarial team supporting the clinical team within Oncology. You will have previous secretarial experience, with knowledge of medical terminology and audio‑transcribing documents. You must be able to work well under pressure and in challenging conditions, with effective organisational skills.

You will have excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, with the ability to prioritise and work flexibly within the existing secretarial team.

Main duties of the job

To provide a comprehensive and efficient secretarial and administrative service to the Clinicians and nursing teams, ensuring all work is prioritised according to the demands of the service. Managing own workload and acting on an independent basis as required by an experienced Medical Secretary.

To perform a variety of client related secretarial duties and to provide efficient administrative and secretarial cross cover support.

To communicate effectively with a wide variety of people, to include GP's, NHS clients, patients and their carers, and members of the Multidisciplinary Team.

Job responsibilities

Communication

• Deal with incoming telephone calls (from other trust staff, patients, company representatives, and external service users) efficiently and courteously, deciding which require re‑routing to the Clinician or handling complex queries.
• Communicate results that may be of a highly sensitive nature to service users as requested by the Consultant or other senior laboratory staff.
• Organise meetings, including venue, refreshments and invitations as required.
• Arrange and organise meetings for the medical team, taking minutes if necessary.
• Communicate highly complex information (e.g. policy changes, reduced theatre lists or staff numbers) to other departments within the hospital, overcoming significant barriers with high interpersonal and persuasive skills.
• Take initial receipt of all incoming correspondence, telephone, written and verbal enquiries as appropriate.
• Attend meetings relevant to the role of medical secretary.
• Communicate with other Consultants, GP surgeries, Primary Care Trusts, other hospitals, patients and their carers, managers, wards, admissions and many other departments, arranging meetings/appointments and providing information on a day‑to‑day basis.
• Ensure patient confidentiality is maintained at all times in accordance with the Data Protection Act/Caldicott, acting in accordance with Trust policies.
• Demonstrate extreme tact, diplomacy, patience and empathy in the course of considerable client/patient contact, both in person and over the telephone.
• Impart clear, concise appointment‑related information to clients/patients.
• Reassure anxious patients recalled for further investigation and explain the procedures to be undertaken.
• Use interpersonal skills to interact with a variety of patients and put each individual at ease.
• Communicate appropriately with patients from different backgrounds and cultures.
• Communicate appropriately with patients who have special needs including those with physical and mental disabilities, learning difficulties and clients who are anxious and/or upset.
• Communicate appropriately with patients who are behaving in an aggressive manner.
• Deal appropriately with messages left on the out‑of‑hours answer service.
• Communicate effectively and work collaboratively as a member of the Multidisciplinary team.

Service Delivery and Improvement

• Autonomously manage a comprehensive and well‑organised administrative and secretarial service for the department, working with limited supervision and on own initiative, prioritising own workload and meeting designated deadlines.
• Provide complete secretarial service, transcribing author dictation using a digital dictation voice‑recognition system. Audio‑type correspondence relating to out‑patient attendances, in‑patient stays, medical reports, lectures and publications as appropriate.
• Maintain a diary on behalf of the clinical team, notifying the Secretarial Supervisor and Patient Access Manager of any planned absences in accord with the Trust’s Leave Policy. Organise and record the consultant’s diary ensuring all paperwork is available for appointments and meetings.
• Take initial receipt of all incoming correspondence, telephone calls, written and verbal enquiries from patients, their families and medical professionals within the Department, the Trust and elsewhere. Assess the nature and urgency of the call, and prepare a prompt or immediate response when appropriate.
• Judge and prioritise before forwarding all communications to the Consultant, medical team or other appropriate persons in preparation for action or response.
• Actively participate in the audit process in collaboration with Consultants, collating patient demographic data and laboratory results into appropriate database and statistical manipulation packages (e.g. Microsoft Excel and Access).
• Explicitly comply with the Trust policies and procedures.
• Perform general clerical tasks including dealing with e‑mails, photocopying and filing, maintaining office filing systems and storing information to meet the needs of the service, including uploading documents to PANDA.
• Maintain and utilise department and Trust information systems, ensuring the accuracy of information held on the Patient Administration Systems.
• Provide cover for other secretarial and administrative staff during absences.
• Attend departmental meetings as required and keep skills up to date through courses for personal training and development.
• Be proficient in the use of IT software, e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel; and use Trust systems and departmental databases for which training will be provided.
• Comply explicitly with the Trust’s Complaints Procedure; forward all formal complaints and responses to appropriate parties without delay. Ensure details of all written plaudits are passed on to appropriate staff.
• Ensure clinical staff work within their defined level of competence; discuss any concerns with the Manager, Supervisor or Consultant, and report duties for which you are not competent.

People Management and Development

• Mentor new staff when necessary and undertake an active role in the induction of new staff.
• Supervise all temporary and bank secretarial staff employed within the Department, directing their work in line with Departmental guidelines.

This role does not meet the minimum criteria for visa sponsorship under the current UK immigration rules, which set specific salary and skill thresholds. As such, we are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK to be considered.

Person Specification

Experience/Qualifications/Skills

• Excellent audio typing skills and ability to touch‑type quickly and accurately.
• Knowledge of a range of secretarial procedures and IT skills.
• Experience in a comparable administrative/secretarial role, including audio typing.
• Good organisational and time‑management skills.
• Ability to receive and communicate highly sensitive information with tact.
• Good written and spoken English with effective communication and interpersonal skills.
• Good working knowledge of medical terminology.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

• Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to role).
• Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) will be required to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)

Address

Sussex Cancer Centre, Royal Sussex County Hospital

£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum/pro-rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full‑time, Part‑time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

279-7490935-DEC25

Job locations

Sussex Cancer Centre, Royal Sussex County Hospital