Vacancy: Medical Assistant

Responsible to:

• General Practitioners (for day-to-day matters)
• Practice or Assistant Manager (for all other matters)

Accountable to:

• Practice Partnership

Job Summary

The post holder will provide a support role, carrying out common clinical administrative tasks. The focus of the role is on supporting General Practitioners in their day-to-day management of patients, specifically aimed at reducing the administrative burden, making best use of consultation time and supporting access to appointments. Duties will include but are not limited to; answering patients clinical administrative enquiries, filing normal 
routine blood test results, completing basic (non-opinion) forms and core elements of some forms for GPs to approve and sign-off such as insurance forms, mortgage forms, benefits agency forms etc, review GP appointments list to see if patients appropriately booked or if could be signposted to another service, chase up information from third parties that relate to presenting patients. 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.

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

Key Duties

Supporting the administrative role of the GP in any way the GP deems appropriate, including the below but not limited to this list:

• Communicating with the public and practice population in a prompt, polite and appropriate manner, to include by face to face contact, by telephone communication, email or other written communication.
• Answer clinical administrative enquiries from patients
• Review, identify and file normal routine blood test results
• Complete basic (non-opinion) forms and core elements of some forms for GPs to approve and sign-off such as insurance forms, mortgage forms, benefits agency forms etc.
• Review GP appointment list to see if patients appropriately booked, or could be signposted to another service.
• Chase up information from third parties such as secondary care that relate to presenting patients.
• Access third party systems to support care and navigation of patients.
• Support GPs to find service information and contact details including ensuring practice resources are updated.
• Prepare patient details for practice meetings including reviewing cases for presentation.
• Receiving and transporting messages for doctors and team members accurately and efficiently, in accordance with Practice policies.
• Liaise and work closely with all other practice admin teams as needed to support the efficiency of the role, and in accordance with Practice polices.

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

Classification	Necessary attributes	Desirable attributes
Qualifications	Educated to GCSE level or equivalent  GCSE Mathematics & English (C or above)  Experience of working in a clinical healthcare role	NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care Have completed or working towards completing the GP  Assistant framework
Experience	Experience of working with the general public in a similar role  Experience of clinical administrative duties  Experience of working in a health care setting  Experience of managing a complex administrative role	Experience of working in a primary care
Skills	Excellent communication skills (written and oral)  Strong IT skills  Clear, polite telephone manner  Competent in the use of Office and Outlook Understanding of clinical coding  Effective time management (Planning & Organising)  Ability to work as a team member and autonomously  Good interpersonal skills  Problem solving & analytical skills  Ability to follow policy and procedure  Able to maintain confidentiality at all times	Knowledge of GP clinical systems, EMIS / Systmone / Vision
Qualities	Polite & confident with good customer care skills remaining  calm under pressure Caring, sensitive and empathetic – sensitive to patients' life stages, concerns and problems Flexible and cooperative  Motivated and proactive  Ability to use initiative and judgement  Forward thinker  High levels of integrity and loyalty  Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations  Ability to work under pressure  Confident, assertive, and resilient
Other	Flexibility to work outside of core office hours  Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check