Administrative / Secretarial Support

NHS; Manchester; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Manchester is seeking an experienced Support Secretary to join the Clinical Support and Specialist Surgery team. The role involves collaboration with medical secretaries, handling referrals, and ensuring timely clinical correspondence. Required qualifications include GCSEs in Maths and English, along with previous clerical experience. The position offers a competitive salary of £24,937 to £26,598 per annum for a full-time, permanent role.

Qualifications

• Essential experience in RSA/OCR typing/text transcription Stage II or equivalent.
• Knowledge of medical terminology is crucial.
• Experience working in a hospital setting is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate with Medical and Secretarial team to meet patient needs.
• Type clinical correspondence following turnaround targets.
• Manage inbound calls and triage based on urgency.

Skills

Clerical experience

IT office packages

Education

Secondary-level education with GCSE in Maths and English at C-grade or above

Tools

NHS computer systems

Job description

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced, efficient, and self‑motivated Support Secretary to join our team within Clinical Support and Specialist Surgery. The role of the Clinical Administrator is to work closely with the medical secretaries to ensure new referrals are processed in accordance with targets and that clinical correspondence is generated in a timely manner to meet the needs of the clinical service.

Main duties of the job

• Work collaboratively with the Medical and Secretarial team to provide a seamless service which is responsive to individual patient needs.
• Triage incoming calls using good communication skills and basic clinical awareness, liaising as appropriate when non‑routine, and refer complex decisions to the Medical Team for assessment and review; type clinical correspondence, treatment summaries and annotations, ensuring compliance with turnaround time/targets and ensuring that instructions are followed/referral to PA/Medical Secretary or medical team as appropriate.

About Us

The Christie is one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 15 % of patients are referred to us from other parts of the country. We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world‑first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We run one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.

Details

• Date posted: 02 January 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 3
• Salary: £24,937 to £26,598 a year per annum pro rata
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full‑time
• Reference number: 413-102357-CSSS-MS
• Job locations: Surgery – E00350, Manchester, M20 4BX

Job Description

Professional

To demonstrate a professional approach to work and promote positive relationships with other departments with a multidisciplinary approach. To maintain confidentiality at all times in line with Trust and Data Protection policies; to be aware of and comply with all requirements for Health & Safety procedures and ensure Trust policies and procedures relevant to the area of practice are adhered to.

Administration

• Work collaboratively with the Medical and Secretarial team to provide a seamless service which is responsive to individual patient needs.
• Triage incoming calls using good communication skills and basic clinical awareness, liaising as appropriate when non‑routine, and refer complex decisions to the Medical Team for assessment and review.
• Type clinical correspondence, treatment summaries and annotations, ensuring compliance with turnaround time/targets and ensuring that instructions are followed/referral to PA/Medical Secretary or medical team as appropriate.
• Ensure accurate input of patient details when entering data into information databases and Patient Administration System (Medway), including routine use of case note tracking system.
• Ensure all relevant information is available for multi‑disciplinary meetings and coordinate case notes and reports where necessary.
• Liaise with all members of the extended MDT to aid facilitation of a collaborative approach to the care of the patient.
• Closely liaise with the CNS teams and ensure clinical investigations and procedures are correctly dealt with when requested by the CNS.
• Highlight potential delays in investigations throughout the patient pathway and escalate appropriately to Medical, Secretarial and Management teams.
• Contribute to the compliance of all patient pathway targets, ensuring appropriate databases are regularly updated.
• Ensure electronic, faxed, verbal communication is sent to referring centres in a timely manner.
• Work with clinicians, nurses, managers and administrative staff to review working practices, identify new improved ways of working and find solutions to problems.
• Support cover to Secretary in their absence.

Governance

• Maintain systems and processes to establish and maintain effective communication, and confidentiality of information.
• Assist with the maintenance of systems and processes to continually monitor standards, e.g. benchmarking, audit, and implement action plans to improve quality of services.
• Support the Surgery and Cancer Division to ensure that lessons are learnt from issues arising from risk, reports, complaints etc. and that they are promptly and positively addressed.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies, procedures and guidelines related to own service.
• Ensure compliance with Trust policies, procedures and guidelines, taking action/alerting the Divisional Senior Management Team if practice appears to contravene policy or if concerned about any aspect of patient care.

Education/Learning

• Take responsibility for own learning and development by recognising and taking advantage of all opportunities to learn, including full participation in personal development review (PDR), supervision, action learning and by maintaining a professional/personal portfolio of learning; assist with systems and processes to ensure that learning needs are identified and met and that all learning is planned, implemented, evaluated and shared in order to change and improve services according to changing health care needs.

Person Specification

Qualifications – Essential

• Secondary-level education GCSE, Maths and English at C‑grade or above, or equivalent

Qualifications – Desirable

• Undertaking or achieved AMSPAR Full Diploma or equivalent qualifications

Experience – Essential

• RSA/OCR typing/text transcription Stage II or equivalent experience

Experience – Desirable

• European Computer Driving License or equivalent

Skills – Essential

• Previous clerical and/or secretarial experience

Skills – Desirable

• Knowledge of NHS computer systems.

Knowledge – Essential

• Experience of working with IT office packages

Knowledge – Desirable

• Experience of working in a hospital setting

Values – Essential

• Awareness of the need for confidentiality in accordance with Data Protection Act and national/local guidelines

Values – Desirable

• Experience of working with multi‑disciplinary teams.

Others – Essential

• Understanding of medical terminology.

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 (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

• Employer name: The Christie NHS FT
• Address: Surgery – E00350, Manchester, M20 4BX
• Website: https://www.christie.nhs.uk/

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