Support Medical Secretary

Transformation Unit; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Part time

Job summary

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Support Medical Secretary to join the Thoracic Surgery Department. The role is a 12-month fixed-term, part-time position (17 hours per week, 3 days) with NHS AfC Band 3, salary pro rata.

You will type clinic letters, cover absences, assist with cancer pathways and 18-week pathways, manage investigations and respond to queries across Northern General and Royal Hallamshire hospitals.

Qualifications

• GCSE English grade 4/C or equivalent.
• Audio Typing experience.
• Office Practice qualification.
• ECDL or equivalent digital skills.
• Any relevant Support Medical Secretarial qualification.
• RSA II/OCR II Word or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Type patient letters for clinic appointments and results; target 48-hour turnaround.
• Cover for medical secretaries during absences and urgent tasks.
• Assist with cancer pathway management and 18-week pathways; update ConnectEPR.
• Support patient investigations and manage waiting lists per policy.
• Handle telephone queries from patients and colleagues.

Skills

Audio Typing

Microsoft Packages

G2 - digital dictation

Medical Terminology

Communication skills

Prioritise workload

Team player

Education

GCSE English (Grade 4/C+)

Office Practice qualification

ECDL

RSA II / OCR II Word

Tools

G2 dictation system

ConnectEPR

Job description

Main area Thoracic Surgery Grade NHS AfC: Band 3 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (All existing NHS staff will only be considered on a secondment basis.) Hours Part time - 17 hours per week (3 days per week) Job ref 190-1844-DIR-B

Employer Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Northern General Hospital Town Sheffield Salary £25,760 - £27,476 pa/pro rata for part time staff Salary period Yearly Closing 12/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 23/10/2026

Support Medical Secretary

NHS AfC: Band 3

We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes , health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Support Medical Secretary to join the Thoracic Surgery Department at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. This role is pivotal in enabling the Directorate to provide a high‑quality, comprehensive and professional administrative service to patients, relatives, carers and other internal and external stakeholders.

Cardiothoracic Service is based at both Northern General Hospital and Royal Hallamshire Hospital and is the service provider for South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire, North Lincolnshire and North Nottinghamshire, serving a population in excess of 2.2 million people. The fundamental goal of the department is to improve the quality of care offered to thoracic patients so that they can live as productive and independent a life as possible.

This role is offered on a 12‑month fixed‑term basis to address current operational pressures, improve administrative support across patient pathways, and provide flexibility to align future administrative structures with planned service expansion and consultant workforce growth.

Main duties of the job

You will be working on varied roles but your main duties include the following:

Type patient letters relating to clinic appointments, test results, referrals, discharge summaries from digital audio dictation, long hand, or verbal dictation. Aiming towards turning typing around in 48 hours.

Cover the medical secretaries absences (sickness and annual leave) taking telephone messages and undertaking any urgent typing and tasks for the consultant and team.

To assist the medical secretaries in managing patients through their 31/62 cancer pathway and 18 week pathway. To validate pathways and amend them on ConnectEPR when typing. To elevate any possible breaches to Line Managers.

Assisting medical secretaries in the management of in‑patient waiting lists ensuring that Trust and National waiting list policies and procedures are adhered to, tracking the patients through their cancer pathway and 18 week pathway for their in‑patient stay.

Management of patient investigations using Trust computer systems.

Dealing with telephone queries from patients/other healthcare workers.

Working for our organisation

You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.

This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term contract basis for a period of 12 months due to the post being recruited as part of a limited term project within the Trust. The fixed term contract status of the post holder will be reviewed in accordance with the Trust's legal obligations regarding fixed term contracts taking into consideration the requirement for the post to be maintained as a part of the project’s implementation and the timescales associated with this.

Please note all existing NHS staff will only be considered on a secondment basis. This must first be agreed with your current line manager.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE (or equivalent) Standard including English Grade 4/C or above or equivalent experience / able to demonstrate the competencies required to carry out this role.
• Audio Typing experience
• Qualification in Office Practice
• ECDL
• Any qualification related to a Support Medical Secretarial Post
• RSA II/ OCR II Word/ Text Processing – or equivalent

Experience

• NHS experience or public sector experience
• Experience of using Microsoft Packages, including word, Excel, Outlook (e‑mail and calendars)
• Knowledge and Use of databases
• Experience of using audio systems
• Experience of working with confidentiality issues
• Experience of a multi‑disciplinary environment
• Experience of using G2 - digital dictation system
• Medical Terminology
• Ability to communicate with a range of people including medical staff, other health care professionals, patients and relatives
• Ability to prioritise own workload
• Ability to use own initiative
• Ability to work under pressure
• Team player
• Neat, accurate and methodical working procedures

Further Training

• A willingness to undertake further training as required for the role
• Note Taking

Other Factors

• Conscientious and methodical worker
• Tactful and understanding manner
• Flexible to meet the needs of the service
• Good telephone manner
• Must demonstrate an understanding of confidentiality
• Ability to work well within a team and be flexible in working practices

Please note that in order to comply with the UK Government’s rules on Skilled Worker sponsorship, any applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirements or concessions on salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker visa will not be eligible to receive sponsorship from the Trust. Please keep this in mind when submitting your application. Further details on these concessions, and who qualifies for them, can be found here .

The Trust is committed to its obligations in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Should you require any assistance in applying for the position please contact the General or Medical Human Resources Departments on the number identified on the NHS Jobs page for the organisation.

Job Share applicants are welcome for all full time posts unless indicated but cannot be guaranteed. In addition for Fixed Term Contracts, internal secondments may be considered.

All employment with the Trust is subject to a number of NHS Employment Checks being met to a satisfactory standard including verification of identity, eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, references and qualifications in addition to professional registration, a disclosure and barring records check and occupational health check if these are deemed to be a requirement for the position to be undertaken.

For more information about our organisation and the opportunities available, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook