Gastroenterology Medical Secretary

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Bedford; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Training and development

Job summary

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a dedicated medical secretary to provide a comprehensive secretarial service to consultants and the Gastroenterology and Hepatology team. The role includes audio typing, dictation, agenda preparation, minutes, and follow-up actions.

You will coordinate outpatient clinics, manage patient pathways, and ensure accurate records are kept in line with information governance requirements. A supportive training environment is offered.

Qualifications

• Provide high-quality secretarial support to consultants and clinicians.
• Prepare agendas, attend meetings, take minutes and follow up.
• Coordinate administrative actions arising from outpatient clinics within agreed timescales.
• Monitor patient pathways and escalation of delays where appropriate.
• Maintain accurate patient records and ensure information governance compliance.

Responsibilities

• Act as a central point of contact for patients, relatives, clinicians and external organisations, handling enquiries professionally and sensitively.
• Audio typ e clinic letters and other clinical correspondence using digital dictation systems.
• Sort, assess and distribute incoming correspondence by clinical urgency and action required.
• Monitor and coordinate outpatient clinic actions including appointments, investigations and referrals.
• Identify delays in investigations or results and bring to clinician attention.

Skills

Secretarial experience

Audio typing

Digital dictation systems

Communication skills

Education

Secretarial qualification or equivalent

Tools

BigHand system

Job description

The post holder will provide a comprehensive and specialist medical secretarial service to consultants, specialist nurses and other clinicians within the Gastroenterology and Hepatology team. The post holder will have significant responsibility for independently coordinating and monitoring clinical administrative processes and patient pathways. MainDutiesoftheJob

• Act as a central point of contact for patients, relatives, clinicians, specialist nurses and external organisations, managing a wider range of enquiries professionally and sensitively.
• Provide high-quality secretarial support, including audio typing and processing clinical correspondence using digital dictation systems.
• Prepare agendas, attend meetings, take minutes and follow up.
• Coordinate administrative actions arising from outpatient clinics, ensuring appointments, investigations, referrals, waiting list actions and follow-up arrangements are completed accurately and within agreed timescales.
• Monitor patient pathways, including cancer and 18-week RTT targets, identifying delays and escalating concerns where appropriate.
• Track outstanding investigations and diagnostic results, ensuring relevant information is brought to the attention of clinicians in a timely manner.
• Support the planning, booking, cancellation and reconfiguration of outpatient clinics, working closely with booking teams and clinical departments.
• Maintain accurate patient records and ensure documentation is appropriately scanned, uploaded and managed inline with information governance requirements.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics.

You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff.

As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career.

• Act as a key point of contact for patients, relatives, consultants, specialist nurses, clinicians, allied health professionals and external organisations. Independently manage electronic, telephone and written enquiries, including sensitive, confidential, difficult or distressing information, using tact, discretion and developed knowledge of the services to establish the nature of the enquiry and determine the appropriate course of action. Resolve enquiries wherever possible and ensure matters requiring clinical or managerial input are escalated appropriately and followed through to an outcome.
• Independently sort, assess, prioritise and distribute incoming correspondence, including electronic mail, according to clinical urgency, patient need, service requirements and agreed timescales. Use judgement to determine which matters require immediate action, which can be dealt with directly and which require referral to the appropriate clinician, department or external organisation.
• Audio type clinic letters, reports and other clinical correspondence dictated through the Big Hand system, ensuring accuracy, confidentiality and timely completion. Monitor consultant amendments and approvals, identify outstanding correspondence and take appropriate action to ensure letters are completed and communicated within agreed timescales.
• Independently monitor and coordinate administrative actions arising from outpatient clinics. This includes ensuring that follow-up appointments, investigations, referrals, discharges, waiting lists, cancellations and other actions identified by clinicians are appropriately processed and completed.
• Maintain oversight of outstanding investigations and clinical information, including blood tests, histopathology, MRI scans, X-rays, imaging and other diagnostic investigations. Identify delays, discrepancies or outstanding actions. Ensure significant or clinically relevant issues are brought to the attention of the appropriate clinician without unnecessary delay.