Jobs at Thornhills Medical Practice

Job Summary:

The post-holder will manage a caseload and deal with a wide range of health needs in a primary care setting, ensuring the highest standards of care for all registered and temporary patients. Duties will include but are not limited to, face-to-face consultations, telephone consultations, online triage, visiting patients at home, reviewing and signing repeat prescriptions and dealing with clinical queries, paperwork and correspondence, participation in duty doctor rota

Clinical Responsibilities:

The following are the core responsibilities of the Salaried GP.  There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:

• The post-holder will make him/her-self available to undertake a variety of duties including face to face consultations, telephone consultations, online triage, visiting patients at home, reviewing and signing repeat prescriptions and dealing with queries, paperwork and correspondence as required.
• Participation in duty doctor rota.
• Make professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation
• Assess the health care needs of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed problems
• Screen patients for disease risk factors and early signs of illness
• Cover all the clinical management of the patients in surgery as appropriate including initiating investigations, reviewing results, making referrals to secondary care or to other providers as appropriate
• In consultation with patients and in line with current Practice disease management protocols, developing care plans for health
• Ensure appropriate follow up of patients 
• Record clear and contemporaneous computerised consultation notes to agreed standards 
• Compile and issue computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions avoiding hand-written prescriptions whenever possible
• Providing counselling and health education
• Prescribe generically whenever appropriately and in accordance with the Practice prescribing formulary, NICE guidance and Good Prescribing Practice (as defined by British National Formulary guidance
• Work with and support other members of the primary health care team in delivering high quality primary care 
• Promote the application of standards and codes of Practice set by the Royal College of General Practice, General Medical Council, Department of Health, local governing bodies and CQC.
• Play a role in the practice achieving agreed QOF and other key performance indicator targets. 
• Take responsibility for targets and services allocated, e.g. a QOF area or an Enhanced Service. 
• In general, the post-holder will be expected to undertake all the normal duties and responsibilities associated with a GP working within primary care. 

Other Responsibilities within the Practice:

• Awareness of and compliance with all relevant Practice policies/guidelines, e.g. prescribing, confidentiality, data protection, health and safety
• Commitment and contribution to achievement of the highest possible quality standards such as the QOF and other targets
• A commitment to life-long learning and audit to ensure evidence-based best practice
• Contribute to evaluation/audit and clinical standard setting within the organisation
• Contribute to the development of computer-based patient records
• Contribute to the summarising of patient records and Read-Coding patient data
• Attend training and events organised by the Practice or other agencies, where appropriate.
• Other duties or activities as agreed by the partners

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the Practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Communication:

The post-holder will recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognize people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Contribution to the Implementation of Services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply Practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
• Participate in audit where appropriate.

Confidentiality:

The post-holder will have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, Practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the Practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.

Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety:

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others’ health, safety and security as defined in the Practice Health & Safety Policy, to include: 

• Identify the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks 
• Make effective use of training to update knowledge and skills 
• Use appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards 
• Report potential risks identified 

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include: 

• Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with Practice procedures and policies, and current legislation 
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues 
• Behaving in a manner, which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal/Professional development:

The post-holder will maintain continued education through attendance at any courses and/or study days necessary to ensure that professional development requirements for appraisal and revalidation are met. This may include training needed for areas of Practice Development

Person Specification

Experience

Job Summary

The post holder will be responsible for undertaking a wide range of clinical data administrative duties to support the multi-disciplinary team. Duties will include but are not limited to, read coding information into patients’ clinical records, extracting data from clinical correspondence and adding to patient clinical records, monitoring QoF targets and recall systems, running searches and audits, notes summarising. The post holder must work as part of a team, have the ability to organise and prioritise their own workload on a day to day basis, and observe strict rules about confidentiality at all times. Working strictly in accordance with specific practice or national guidelines, they must also know the limits of their own capabilities and seek direction from a doctor, supervisor or manager when required.

Clinical Administration

• Accurately input clinical data into patient records
• Run patient recall systems
• Monitor Quality Outcomes Frames (QoF) and other clinical audits and assist with administration in achieving QoF targets
• Assist with searches, recalls and audits for chronic disease management, ensuring that recalls letters / questionnaires are produced and sent out on time
• Liaise with administrator to ensure cervical smear recalls are in place as necessary
• Run other computer searches as required
• Assist with administration of the Pathology Links / Mail Manager
• Assist doctors/managers with administration of enhance services and projects
• Assist doctors/managers with annual immunisation recall programmes and campaigns
• Summarise patient notes accurately and efficiently, in liaison with doctors, and in accordance with the timescale outlined in the GMS2 Contract, ensuring clinical information is added to the computer system accurately and efficiently
• Administer the electronic GP2GP system ensuring patients notes are processed and summarised in a timely manner
• Review and extract required data from clinical correspondence and inputting the data and Read Codes into the patient’s medical record in the computer system
• Ensure, as far as possible, that all data entered complies with the GMS2 Contract
• Advise doctors and staff in the correct use of Read Codes, shortcuts and GMS Guidelines and amend entries as appropriate
• Enter test / screening results and other clinical information onto the computer system
• Transcribe handwritten clinical notes into the computer system
• Ensure that all relevant Safeguarding Adults and Child Protection information is entered into the computer system

Confidentiality

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & Safety

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others’ health, safety and security as defined in the practice health & safety policy, the practice health & safety manual, and the practice infection control policy and published procedures. This will include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way, free from hazards
• Actively reporting health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Keeping own work areas and general/patient areas generally clean, assisting in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope of the job holder’s role
• Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually)
• Reporting potential risks identified
• Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children

Equality and Diversity

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
• Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal/Professional development

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development and revalidation.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

Quality

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients’ needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Communication

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognise people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly

Contribution to the implementation of services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
• Participate in audit where appropriate

These duties may be changed from time to time, dependent on the needs of the practice. This will be done in consultation with the employee and, if appropriate, training and instruction will be given.

Person Specification – Patient Services Advisor