Trust Medical Secretary - General Surgery

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Norwich; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A major NHS trust in Norwich is seeking a Trust Medical Secretary to support the Colorectal Surgery team. This role involves effective communication with patients and multidisciplinary staff, managing clinic schedules, and providing vital administration services. The ideal candidate must have recent medical secretarial experience, excellent organizational skills, and understand patient confidentiality. This opportunity comes with various benefits, such as flexible working hours and a comprehensive pension scheme.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Fast Track Staff Physiotherapy Service

Discounted gym memberships

Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement

Free 24-hours confidential counselling support

Qualifications

• Recent medical secretarial/administration experience required.
• High attention to detail and accuracy in work.
• Experience with in-house IT systems that aid patient pathways.

Responsibilities

• Act as point of contact for communication between consultants, patients, and multidisciplinary staff.
• Transcribe correspondence from audio/digital dictation.
• Manage clinical investigations and patients' waiting lists.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Ability to manage workloads

Understanding of patient confidentiality

Experience with IT systems

Job description

A Vacancy at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This is an exciting opportunity to join the General Surgery Department. We are recruiting a Trust Medical Secretary to join an established team within Colorectal Surgery, working alongside administrative, medical and nursing teams. The role will support Colorectal surgeons with their day‑to‑day management of clinics, theatres and provide an effective administration service.

The successful candidate will be expected to have excellent communication and organisational skills, the ability to manage and prioritise workloads, and work as part of a wider team. Recent medical secretarial/administration experience, high attention to detail, accuracy, and understanding of patient confidentiality are essential. Experience with in‑house I.T systems and programmes which enable patient pathway progression is required.

The successful candidate will act as point of contact for all communication between consultants, patients, relatives and a wide range of multi‑disciplinary staff. The team will also work closely with General Practitioners and outside agencies which requires the utmost professionalism. They will assist in the management of office administration and provide an effective secretarial service, ensuring continuity of service across the specialty.

As a department we support the delivery of a high quality, safe and compassionate healthcare service, all staff are expected to act as a role model to others in all aspects of their work and consistently demonstrate NNUH’s ‘PRIDE’ values of People focused, Respect, Dedication, Integrity and Excellence.

Join us at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and be part of a workforce of over 10,000 staff! The NNUH is one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, providing first‑class acute care for around one million people living in Norfolk and surrounding areas. We are a teaching and research hospital, at the forefront of innovation, home to state‑of‑the‑art facilities such as the Quadram Institute. We are pleased to work closely with the University of East Anglia, providing teaching opportunities for our staff and placement opportunities for their students. We attract some of the best and leading professionals from across the country and are proud that our workforce represents 94 countries from across the world. We are a friendly, collaborative hospital, working with local services and home to N&N Hospitals Charity.

Benefits

• Flexible working hours
• Fast Track Staff Physiotherapy Service
• Multi Faith prayer room at NNUH Colney Lane site
• Discounted gym memberships
• Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
• Wagestream – access up to 40% of your pay as you earn it
• Free Park & Ride service direct to NNUH Colney Lane site
• Free 24‑hours confidential counselling support
• On‑site Nursery at NNUH Colney Lane
• On‑site cafes offering staff discounts at NNUH Colney Lane
• Support in career development
• Flexible staff bank
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars, Cycle to Work scheme and home electronics

Key Responsibilities

• Deal efficiently and effectively with direct and indirect (i.e. telephone, face‑to‑face) enquiries from patients, all levels of medical and nursing staff, GPs, Social Services and other health professionals and staff. Respond to enquiries, providing routine and non‑routine information and non‑clinical advice, resolving problems where possible. Communicate appropriately with patients who may be fearful, aggressive or have sensitive concerns needing reassurance and who may present difficulties in communication e.g. terminally ill patients, deaf patients, mentally ill patients and elderly confused patients.
• Attend to all communications, for example, emails, faxes, investigation results on a daily basis and prioritise and action as required.
• Accurately transcribe all correspondence by touch typing from audio/digital dictation or shorthand using knowledge of medical terminology. Generate routine and non‑routine correspondence independently.
• Assist patients and their carers by arranging translation/interpretation facilities.
• Demonstrate and maintain knowledge and understanding of Trust RTT policy.
• Update RTT in accordance with Trust guidelines. Assist the Administration and Clerical team with data management utilising PAS and other departmental patient databases.
• Complete the tertiary referral proforma/template for internal/external referrals as per Trust policy.
• Promptly action clinical investigations, results and outcomes. Utilise Trust reports to service and administer waiting lists, which may include outpatient, inpatient and waiting lists as required in the local work area, escalating to senior staff as required.
• Add patients to waiting lists as requested taking into account the urgency of the case and the patient’s preference.
• Arrange urgent admissions direct from clinic and ambulatory care areas, contacting the patient and liaising with ward/theatre/clinics as required.
• Support meetings with minute taking as necessary.
• Maintain diaries as appropriate.

Please note that this advertised position, which is part of occupation code 4211, does not meet the UKVI eligibility requirements for a Skilled Worker Visa (this includes if you are already in a sponsored post and looking to change employer). The Trust would not be able to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for this role.

This advert closes on Friday 5 Dec 2025.