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[CLKD]

Interesting that some have no idea about what secretarial work entails.  So a precise of my working life.

As a medical secretary with many years of working I was involved in 3 specialisities: NHS/private orthopaedic, Private psychology and Insurance Reports. 

In the Hospital I accompanied the Consultants and SHOs to Clinics or Hospital Ward Rounds, taking down information about individual patients with all that entailed: checking X-ray reports, taking notes to physiotherapy dept etc.. Liaising with Ward Staff and other secretaries. Later in private practice I was typing insurance claim Reports which involved detailed investigations dictated by the Consultant.  Some of which included information about Holiday Insurance Claims.

Insurance Claim Reports
Head Injury Reports
Whiplash Reports
It was surprising how many people stepped back off ladders to admire their handiwork and ended up requiring Reports

Busy, interesting, taught us a lot about how to be more careful!

[Limpy]

Interesting that some have no idea about what secretarial work entails.  So a precise of my working life.

As a medical secretary with many years of working I was involved in 3 specialisities: NHS/private orthopaedic, Private psychology and Insurance Reports. 

In the Hospital I accompanied the Consultants and SHOs to Clinics or Hospital Ward Rounds, taking down information about individual patients with all that entailed: checking X-ray reports, taking notes to physiotherapy dept etc.. Liaising with Ward Staff and other secretaries. Later in private practice I was typing insurance claim Reports which involved detailed investigations dictated by the Consultant.  Some of which included information about Holiday Insurance Claims.

Insurance Claim Reports
Head Injury Reports
Whiplash Reports
It was surprising how many people stepped back off ladders to admire their handiwork and ended up requiring Reports

Busy, interesting, taught us a lot about how to be more careful!

My OH died in April of bowel cancer which had spread to his lungs. This being the case we had quite a few dealings with the medical profession.

If any sort of doctor had fronted up to see Mr L with a totally medically unqualified bimbo/jobsworth in tow, I would have made it my business to complain, long and very loudly to the authorities concerned.

[Ayesha]

Condolences, Limpy, and well said!

[Taz2]

I'm so sorry about your husband Limpy. I didn't know 

[Asher]

Do medical secretaries even go on ward rounds ? My daughter and son in law are both doctors and they never take office staff on ward rounds , maybe something they did years ago certainly not now , well not in our hospitals.
My mum recently passed away from lung cancer and never once was a medical secretary present at ward rounds , just the consultant and ward sister.
I too would not been impressed if the medical team had turned up with unqualified staff , we don’t have a receptionist at the GP in the consultation taking notes so why would they in a hospital setting, there job is office based .

Sorry about your husband limpy , it’s awful to lose a loved one and cancer is particularly hard, lost my mum in July this year and it’s heartbreaking. X

[CLKD]

Office staff are a totally different category - those in offices deal with front line reception, booking appts. etc..  Secretaries have different skills.  We worked closely with office staff too liasing between them and consultants, physiotherapists, blood bank, X-ray depts..  We were qualified in secretarial skills.  At no point did have I suggested otherwise. 



How would Consultants etc. have time to do what they are qualified to do: examining patients, surgical interventions    ..........  I cannot imagine any taking notes to physio., filling reports etc. although a lot is probably now done on computer directly between Depts.?  which is why some important information is being lost when patients arrive in A&E.  Because it's easier to flick through paper notes than scroll through acres of pages on a screen in a busy Dept..


Asher :  Firstly, sorry for your trouble.  Usually there is a group of staff as well as the Consultant and Ward Sister in an NHS Hospital Ward Round and Staff Nurses when Sister is off duty.  I worked in a Training Hospital where GP trainees upwards as well as young Nurses would attend so that there was continuity in both the Clinic situation as well as on the Ward. After all Consultants are not often present on the Wards being busy elsewhere. [clinic or theatre]

At each change over the senior member of the nursing staff would verbally update in-coming staff on each patient, I often attended these too. 

We would take down notes in shorthand to be transcribed in our office ......... so partly office based.  Now my GP jots down details on a screen but there is within the NHS, difficulty in getting records across due to a lack of continuity with the various computer systems that the LAs put into place: rather than buying 1 which integrated with all LAs across England. 

To this day I miss going into Clinicis, meeting and reassuring patients B4 the SHOs and Consultants arrived to do the examinations and dictate findings for patient records  ........ we were always part of the over-all Team .  As well as being present if a Nurse had to fetch something for the Doctors so acted as chaperones too.

In the mid-1980s a dedicated Medical Secretary shorthand College Course was devised, quite frankly a waste of time in those early years - those who learnt in house as it were could follow what was required as well as developing short forms for all the medical terminology .  When I hear of the new drugs and diagnosis I am glad that I am no longer taking it down in shorthand 

[Limpy]

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, Ayesha, Taz and Asher.
It really is appreciated.

[Taz2]

I think the secretarial world has changed so much in the last forty years. I thought I'd just look up what is expected of medical secretaries. The salary isn't great for the amount of responsibility. Around 24k in London. It still seems an interesting career and qualifications are important https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/administration/medical-secretarypersonal-assistant

Taz x

[CLKD]

Tnx. 

Salary isn't great all round in the NHS .........

[Taz2]

Has the actual job changed a lot CLKD?

Taz x

[Limpy]

CLKD would you like to return to the job if that were an option?

[ElkWarning]

Sorry to hear of your losses Limpy and Asher.

I trained as a legal secretary in 1990, I had a choice, either legal or medical.  I then went on to work for the NHS in their legal dept - there weren't trusts back then.

I just clicked the link Taz provided above and was a bit shocked to be honest.  It used to be that you needed 5 O'Levels, including in Maths and English, to get on to the year-long course (for either discipline).  It was 10 hours a week, 2 hours or which was subject specific, so if it was legal you had to learn about the law and if it was medical you had to learn about medicine.  Of course, this didn't make you an expert, but it did mean you were familiar with the terminology and context.  You also had to be good at shorthand and have a typing speed in excess of 120 wpm (words per minute).  Point being, it wasn't unusual for me to accompany my solicitor who specialised in medical (in much the same way as CLKD describes) to make sure what needed to be done happened as quickly as possible.  By being present, I could offer a much speedier admin turn around than if everything had to be hauled back to the office first.  I also had to belong to a professional body, was licenced, and we could be 'struck off' (lose our careers) if we didn't adhere to proper practice.  Pay was actually really good, but you did have to put in the hours, no going home just because it was 5.30pm if there was anything urgent outstanding.

I think the profession has changed, in that it's been deprofessionalised.  As the text in the link says 'You will get the training you need to do the job. This includes an introduction to the department, how to use the IT and phone equipment and the procedures to follow. You may also have training in customer care' - this is in sharp contrast to actually being qualified and certified.  And so the salaries match that kind of low expectation, which means anyone like me, who was good at my job, went off to work in operations because that's where the money was.

I do find it frustrating though, to encounter so many of these deprofessionalised admin, who don't seem to know their backside from their elbow, because they don't get the job done and I swear to god that's why we're in such a bureaucratic mess now.

[CLKD]

Interesting how working situations have moved on!

typing - yep [having taken down in shorthand details from the Consultants or SHOs etc.]

arranging meetings and taking minutes - yep [as well as organising Clinical Conferences where Consultants world wide would attend and patients with unusual conditions would be presented]

managing diaries - that was done in the Records Office

arranging travel - ditto

dealing with enquiries - ditto though many queries came to me via the Records Dept so that I could talk to patients, GPs, staff from Hospitals outside the area

taking phone calls - see above

ordering stationery - never.  That was done by the appropriate office staff


dealing with post and emails. - nope, post was sent directly to the Records Office for distribution [long B4 computer technology]


creating and updating spreadsheets and databases - N/A

[CLKD]

You could be based in clinical areas such as:

hospital departments of all types - each secretary was appointed to a speciality but had to cover the whole Hospital on a Sat rota system - usually for the typing of discharge letters to GPs.

specialist clinics, including cancer centres or accident and emergency units - as above

GP surgeries and health centres - I was involved in a Hospital setting or private practice


You may have contact with patients and their families as well as with healthcare staff and other admin staff - as explained in my initial thread


Personal assistants may also be based in non-clinical areas such as NHS headquarters buildings where there is little or no contact with patients. - PAs are a totally different category to medical secretaries in that they may not have any typing skills therefore they delegate

I worked for a PA in one of my later posts .......... we remain friends after 30 years so I couldn't have done too bad a job ;-)

Medical secretaries/personal assistants may supervise a team of admin/secretarial staff such as clerks or typists - when I worked in the NHS these depts were over seen by the Records Officer

So yes Taz life has certainly changed. 

[CLKD]

Training and development

You will get the training you need to do the job. This includes an introduction to the department, how to use the IT and phone equipment and the procedures to follow. You may also have training in customer care. - we learned on the job after the initial interview for the position: all members of Staff helped me enormously to find my feet from the Consultant downwards.  After the 1st week I felt valued and part of the Team.

You may be offered the chance to take qualifications such as NVQs or those from:

the Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists (AMSPAR)

the British Society of Medical Secretaries and Administrators (BSMSA)

Some medical secretaries/personal assistants become members of AMSPAR or BSMSA. Both AMSPAR and BSMSA offer training, online forums and newsletters so staff can network with others doing the same type of work