Administrative / Support Secretary

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust; Manchester; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester is seeking an experienced Support Secretary to join the Clinical Support and Specialist Surgery team. The role focuses on processing referrals and generating clinical correspondence to meet service targets.

Working full-time 37.5 hours per week, you will support medical secretaries and ensure confidential handling of patient information within NHS guidelines. The post highlights a pro rata salary and a strong commitment to high-quality patient care.

Qualifications

• GCSE Maths and English at C-grade or above.
• RSA/OCR typing Stage II or equivalent.
• Previous clerical and/or secretarial experience.
• Experience of IT office packages.
• Awareness of confidentiality per Data Protection Act and guidelines.
• Understanding of medical terminology.
• AMS PAR Full Diploma or equivalent qualifications.
• European Computer Driving Licence or equivalent.
• Knowledge of NHS computer systems.

Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with the Medical and Secretarial team to provide a seamless service responsive to patient needs.
• Triage incoming calls and refer complex decisions to the Medical Team.
• Type clinical correspondence, treatment summaries and annotations within turnaround targets.
• Input patient details into information databases and Medway accurately.
• Ensure information is available for MDT meetings and coordinate case notes.
• Liaise with CNS teams and other departments to facilitate investigations and procedures.
• Highlight potential delays in investigations and escalate as needed.
• Support cover for the Secretary in their absence.

Skills

Typing

Secretarial experience

Confidentiality

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Medical terminology

Education

GCSE Maths and English

RSA/OCR typing

AMSPAR Full Diploma

European Computer Driving License

Tools

Medway

NHS computer systems

Job description

Main area Division of Clinical Support and Specialist Surgery Grade Band 3 Contract Permanent Contract Hours 37.5 hours per week (Full time permanent) Job ref 413-109423-CSSS-RS-A

Site Surgery - E00350 Town Manchester Salary £25,760 - £27,476 Pro rata, per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 04/09/2026 23:59

Job overview

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.

Full-time 37.5 Hours

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 ensure that instructions are followed/ referred to the PA/Medical Secretary or medical team as appropriate.

Working for our organisation

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% 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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

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 ensure that instructions are followed/ referred to the PA/Medical Secretary or medical team as appropriate.
• Ensure accurate input of patient details when entering data on to 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, 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
• Liaise with internal and external departments to ensure clinical investigations and procedures are correctly dealt with when requested by the CNS.
• Highlight potential delays in investigations, throughout the patient pathway and elevate appropriately to Medical, Secretarial and Management teams
• Contribute to the compliance of all patient pathway targets. Ensure 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 / Previous Experience

• Secondary-level education GCSE, Maths and English at C-grade or above, or equivalent
• RSA/OCR typing/text transcription Stage II or equivalent experience
• Previous clerical and /or secretarial experience
• Experience of working with IT office packages
• Awareness of the need for confidentiality in accordance with Data Protection Act and national / local guidelines.
• Understanding of medical terminology.
• Undertaking or achieved AMSPAR Full Diploma or equivalent qualifications
• European Computer Driving License or equivalent
• Knowledge of NHS computer systems.
• Experience of working in a hospital setting.
• Experience of working with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Understanding of medical terminology.

Skills

• Demonstrate excellent verbal and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to communicate at all levels and in difficult circumstances.
• Demonstrate written communication skills, data handling and interpretation.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Ability to work with distressing information.
• Ability to use own initiative.
• Ability to work under pressure and remain calm in difficult situations
• Ability to work to deadlines and prioritise tasks.
• Be able to work in a team environment.
• Enthusiastic and hard working.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to perform a wide range of duties according to the Job Description

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

Sponsorship Information -We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications.Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on thegovernment website.

Pre-Employment Checks - To confirm your suitability for the role, we will carry out pre-employment checks in line with NHS Employment Check Standards . These include:

• Identity verification
• Right to work check
• Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role, payment of this will be the applicants responsibility)
• Professional registration and/or qualification check
• Occupational health assessment
• Employment history and reference validation

All applicants external to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be required to provide theirHMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years employment. This information will used to validate employment history andreferences.

If you require sponsorship, we will assess your eligibility based on currentgovernment guidance. If the role is not eligible and you cannot demonstrate your right to work, your conditional offer may be withdrawn.

The Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process is a critical and beneficial component of ESR and will form part of the recruitment process. In the event that you are successful following interview your previous NHS employment data, if applicable will be transferred from your current / most recent employer.

No Smoking Policy - You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work.

Additional Information - We want to ensure that everyone who works at the Christie or uses our services is welcomed, valued and treated with dignity and respect.The Christie values diversity and is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and fair representation across the organisation at all levels. In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit.

We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all our activities. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in any of its forms, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, and human trafficking. We are fully committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or supply chains.

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.

Name June Lamb Job title Support Manager Email address [e-mail] Additional information

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