Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services. Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital. Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients. In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research. We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit. Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’. The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients. We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS. Job overview We are looking for an experienced medical secretary to join our Cardiac Surgery team at Harefield, working alongside the Consultant Surgeons and junior doctors to provide an efficient and effective medical secretarial service. You will work closely with your Consultants, organising their electronic calendars and assisting them with the efficient management of their duties. This is an extremely busy role and therefore you will need to be calm and efficient, have good organisational skills, be able to multi-task and be an excellent communicator. Experience of using EPIC or similar system would be an advantage. Main duties of the job To carry out all secretarial and administrative duties to provide an efficient and effective medical secretarial service to the Cardiac Surgery team, including the designated Consultants and junior doctors. To work closely with the designated Consultants, ensuring their electronic diaries are kept up to date and assisting them with the efficient performance of their duties. To facilitate provision of information relating to appointments and admissions for patients. To provide cover for other medical secretaries within the Heart Division, with specific cross-cover within the Cardiac Surgery team. Managing in-basket within EPIC to ensure timely completion of clinical correspondence routed via the EPIC system. Using EPIC to register new patient details and log all new referrals received. To be involved in the management of the Single Point of Referral (SPoR) process for all incoming cardiac surgery referrals to the Trust via a shared mailbox, working alongside the other surgical secretaries on a daily rota basis to ensure the efficient management of the shared mailbox. Manage Consultants outreach clinics to ensure the smooth flow of subsequent patient pathway for surgery, including retrieval of necessary documentation and imaging. Any other duties that may be required to help support the Consultants and their teams. Working for our organisation You will be working as part of a small team of medical secretaries within the Cardiac Surgery Department . You will therefore need be an excellent team player but also have the ability to work independently. You should be pro-active, adaptable and able to multi-task so excellent organisational skills are essential. You should be computer literate with a solid background of medical secretarial experience preferably within a hospital environment. Medical terminology (AMSPAR or equivalent) is desirable. Subject to the demands of the role and service requirements, hybrid working can be considered after an initial induction period. The Trust has recently undergone an ambitious programme of digital transformation with the launch of EPIC in October 2023. Detailed job description and main responsibilities Provide a full secretarial and administrative service to the designated Consultant Surgeons and their junior doctors. Consultants can be working cross-site and therefore efficient diary management is essential in this role. Deal with telephone and email queries and provide non-clinical advice regarding patient care and appointments/admissions to patients, Trust staff, GPs and referring Cardiologists. To act as first point of contact for patients and their families seeking information and support. You must be able to triage calls appropriately as well as deal sympathetically with people who may be bereaved, distressed or angry using empathy, tact and discretion. Assessing priorities and initiating action as required. Liaise with Outpatients to arrange appointments for patients and with other relevant departments to arrange investigations for patients and ensure patients are involved accordingly. This can involve multiple bookings for individual patients which require co-ordination. Liaise with external agencies (GP, hospitals, DVLA, DWP) and facilitate provision of reports/results from the surgical team. To assist resolving informal complaints and support the formal complaints process where necessary Liaise with staff in other hospitals to help co-ordinate Consultants outreach clinics. This job description is intended as a basic guide to the scope and responsibilities of the post and is not exhaustive. It will be subject to regular review and amendment as necessary in consultation with the post holder. Person specification Education and qualifications Essential criteria Good general education standard Desirable criteria AMSPAR Level 2/3 Previous work experience Essential criteria Previous medical secretary background Desirable criteria Preferably experience working in a hospital environment Skills and abilities Essential criteria Good working knowledge of EPIC system Electronic diary and email management Good typing speeds with high accuracy Excellent communication skills Advanced use of Microsoft packages Desirable criteria Accurate typing skills Personal qualities Essential criteria Excellent people skills Able to work effectively and efficiently both independently and as part of a team Ability to prioritise workload and multi-task Discretion and empathy when dealing with patients and families Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership. Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy. As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends. Flexible working We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process. Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis. Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now." Applicant requirements 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. Further details / informal visits contact Name Debbie Waddon Job title Medical Secretary Supervisor, Cardiac Surgery Email address [email protected] Telephone number 01895 828665 Additional information For additional information please contact the Recruitment Team at Harefield at [email protected]