Corneoplastics Support Secretary

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; East Grinstead; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tailored personal development

Flexible working arrangements

Rewards programme with discounts

Job summary

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in East Grinstead is seeking a self-motivated Support Secretary for the Ophthalmology Department. This full-time role (37.5 hours/week) is NHS Band 3 and involves audio typing, diary management, and secretarial duties within a busy clinical setting.

The successful candidate will have secondary education, RSA Level 3, excellent English and MS Excel skills, with experience in healthcare administration.

Qualifications

• Secondary Education required.
• RSA Level 3 or equivalent experience.
• Excellent command of English (written and verbal).
• MS Excel proficiency required.

Responsibilities

• Accurate audio typing and administration of Ophthalmology clinics.
• Ensuring prompt output and sign-off within agreed timescales.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of PAS.

Skills

Secretarial experience

Healthcare knowledge

Education

Secondary Education

RSA Level 3 or equivalent

Tools

MS Excel

Job description

Main area Ophthalmology Grade NHS AfC: Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (5 days per week) Job ref 276-8097161-AC

Employer Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Queen Victoria Hospital Town East Grinstead Salary £25,760 - £27,476 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 15/09/2026 23:59

Corneoplastics Support Secretary

NHS AfC: Band 3

Welcome to Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and thank you for your interest.

In addition to receiving tertiary referrals from across the South East of England, we have a network of ‘spoke’ sites at district general hospitals enabling our consultants to offer their expertise with routine treatments and consultations as close to patients’ homes as is possible. With the recent addition of video led ‘virtual’ consultations we also enable patients who have some distance to travel to avoid the additional stress and worry of a long journey.

Working at QVH combines the excitement, challenge and career opportunities of many larger organisations with the satisfaction of delivering excellent patient care that really does re-build our patients’ lives.

We also offer attractive benefits such as

• tailored personal development to support career aspirations, including accredited clinical and management development programmes
• flexible working arrangements for a work-life balance that suits you and your needs
• a dedicated reward programme, offering a range of national and local discounts, cashback and tax relief schemes

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Sustainability

At Queen Victoria Hospital we want to be the first Net Zero Hospital in England, and to achieve that wants every member of staff to be a green champion. The way in which the Trust works has a significant impact on the organisation’s carbon footprint and that of our patients. From the heat, light and power supplies within the hospital to avoiding unnecessary patient journeys, the Trust is empowering all staff to create a sustainable health and care environment for future generations. The Trust expects all staff to reuse and recycle more, to use energy and water efficiently, to walk or cycle to work if you can, and to have a focus on sustainability in the workplace.

We are currently looking for a self motivated, proactive, independent and resourceful Support Secretary to work in the Ophthalmology Department at Queen Victoria Hospital on a full time basis (37.5 hours per week over 5 days). This is a varied post providing comprehensive support to the department.

The role will involve working flexibly to provide and receive confidential and sensitive information, written, aural or verbal.

We are looking for an experienced secretary with medical experience in a hospital or clinical environment who is able to work both within a busy team and on their own initiative when required. They must be able to prioritise their own workload, ideally possess excellent audio typing skills but training could be given, excellent communication skills combined with an excellent telephone manner, possess a flexible and pro-active attitude and remain calm under pressure. Experience of audio typing is desirable.

Main duties of the job

• Accurate audio typing and administration of Ophthalmology clinics
• Ensuring prompt output and sign off within agreed timescales
• Develop and maintain a sound knowledge of PAS
• Gain good hands on understanding of RTT18 and NHS targets
• Ensure follow-up actions from clinics are dealt with and recorded accurately within PAS
• Deal with telephone enquiries in a professional and timely manner and cover unattended colleagues telephones within the unit
• Maintain sound knowledge of medical terminology, tests, symptoms etc relevant to department specialty
• Assist with covering some medical secretary duties during periods of leave
• Contact and book patients for routine general anaesthetic procedures at Queen Victoria Hospital

Working for our organisation

QVH is rated GOOD overall with outstanding care by the CQC. A specialist NHS hospital providing life-changing reconstructive surgery, burns care and rehabilitation services across the South of England and beyond.

A centre of excellence, with an international reputation for pioneering advanced techniques and treatments. Everything we do is informed by our passion for providing the highest quality care and the best clinical outcomes.

At QVH we are proud of our achievements and our specialist services continue to record excellent clinical outcomes for patients. We regularly receive excellent results from patient satisfaction surveys and on average 98% of inpatients say they would recommend the hospital to their family or friends.

Our success is underpinned by the skills and enthusiasm of our staff and a strong culture of partnership. We are fully committed to training and development of the workforce with support for continuing education and learning.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached Job Description for more detailed information on the role and minimum essential requirements for the role.

To provide secretarial and administrative support to the Ophthalmology Department. Reporting to the Service Coordinator and working closely with Medical Secretaries and Support Secretaries to ensure the delivery of the service within NHS targets and RTT18 guidelines. To work flexibly and to provide and receive confidential and sensitive information written, aural or verbal, to be exchanged with patients/clients, relatives, staff or external parties. To provide comprehensive typing support ensuring accurate transcription and timely output.

Person specification

Qualification

• Secondary Education
• RSA Level 3 or equivalent level of experience
• Excellent command of English both written and verbal with excellent grammatical and spelling ability
• MS Excel

Experience

• Secretarial experience and administration experience
• Healthcare knowledge
• Experience as support secretary
• Experience in medical administration

Attributes

• High levels of concentration
• Enthusiasm.
• Ability to work on own initiative and in pressured environment.

The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions when we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. You are therefore advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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 it receives a high number of applications. Please submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.

Available between the hours 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.