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Job summary

Main area
Neurophysiology
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Occasional Saturday work)
Job ref
418-MED43278-EH
Employer
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Luton and Dunstable
Town
Luton
Salary
£25,760 - £27,476 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
28/10/2026 23:59
Interview date
11/11/2026

Employer heading

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Medical Secretary

NHS AfC: Band 3

Job overview

The Neurophysiology Department has an exciting new opportunity for someone who enjoys working in a busy hospital environment.

 

We are looking for an organised, reliable and detailed-focused Medical Secretary to join our friendly team. If you have excellent organisational and communication skills, enjoy meeting people and can meet challenging deadlines, then you could be the person we are looking for. 

 

The successful applicant will be a crucial part of our team, providing a link between the Trust, the patient and other healthcare professionals.  They will provide a comprehensive, efficient and responsive administration service, ensuring referrals, correspondence and other clinical administration are processed accurately and efficiently in accordance with Trust policies and procedures. 

 

Previous experience in general practice, the NHS or healthcare would be beneficial, but we also welcome applications from candidates with previous administrative or secretarial experience and willingness to learn. You will need to have good typing skills, be able to formulate and use excel spreadsheets, word and outlook. Full induction and training will be provided. 

 

Please note that we reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive a high volume of applications. We therefore encourage candidates to submit their application as soon as possible. 

 

 

 

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will be required to provide a comprehensive secretarial service relating to NHS work for a clinical team. 

They will act as a focal point for the clinical team and patients, providing support with with referrals, clinical correspondence, medical reports and other administrative work.

The role involves communicating with patients, clinical staff within and outside of the hospital and other healthcare organisations; managing workflows and ensuring all work is completed accurately and within appropriate timescales. 

Some of the responsibilities include: Reception desk duties, receiving and processing referrals, registering patients, making appointments and providing reports to referrers. 

This post requires a self-motivated and professional individual with the confidence and ability to work on their own initiative as well as part of a team in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.

You will need to be organised, able to prioritise competing demands, have excellent attention to detail and maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive patient information. 

Working for our organisation

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. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

To perform desk reception duties including receiving patients into the department and booking them onto the hospital systems

Frequently receive and respond appropriately to telephone and personal enquiries from patients, relatives, GP’s, other consultants and external bodies, referring enquiries to the consultants / clinical team where necessary

Be responsible for the receipt of referral letters with timely input onto the computerised IT Systems and ensuring that all patients’ demographic information is recorded accurately 

To request, cancel and re-arrange appointments when necessary, following procedures to minimise DNA rates

To process rejected referrals following local procedures

To make appointments for all tests provided by the service

To appropriately code all patients on IPM after their visit

To set up new clinics as required

To undertake typing of medical/clinical correspondence using relevant IT systems to a high and accurate standard

To distribute/upload patient reports following current local guidelines/procedures

To carry out general administration duties and provide clerical assistance to all members of staff, as required

To cover the administrator duties during periods of absence

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • • RSA Level 3 typing/word processing or equivalent qualification or experience
  • • Vocational Level 3 or equivalent
  • • GCSE Grade 4 (Grade C and above) in English and Maths
Desirable criteria
  • knowledge of ICE/iPM/EVOLVE
  • medical secretary diploma

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Secretarial experience
  • • Experience and knowledge of multi-disciplinary team working
  • • Good customer or patient care
  • • Working with computer software programmes such as Microsoft Office, e-mail and internet
Desirable criteria
  • • Medical secretarial experience
  • • Working with patients requiring health care

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • • Knowledge of secretarial or administrative procedures and systems such as answering queries, progress chasing, task-related problem solving, acquired through experience and training
  • • Ability to deal with complex and sensitive information
Desirable criteria
  • • Previous experience in demonstrating administrative duties to new starters and less experienced staff

Skills

Essential criteria
  • • Demonstrate good verbal and written communication skills
  • • Calm under pressure
  • • Good time management skills
  • • High standard of accuracy
  • • Ability to work as part of a team, maintaining effective working relationships
Desirable criteria
  • •Evidence of ongoing personal development and willingness to further progress ( knowledge and skills framework and continuing personal development

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Care quality commission - GoodDisability confident employerEmployer with HeartNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality Mark 2024

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Katarzyna Platek-Johnson
Job title
Professional Service Manager - Neurophysiology
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01582 718047
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