Medical secretaries provide administrative support to doctors, hospital consultants and other healthcare professionals.

Search below the latest Medical Secretary jobs in London and throughout the UK. Find vacancies in hospitals, GP surgeries, research establishments and pharmaceutical companies.

Job description

The medical profession relies heavily on secretarial and administrative support - dentists, doctors, surgeons, psychiatrists and even pharmaceutical companies all need experienced medical secretaries to fulfil this function.

The nature of the job depends on who you are working for. If you work in a doctor's surgery, you may see literally hundreds of people a day and a lot of your work will be dealing with patients on a face to face basis. Alternatively, you could work for a surgeon and your work will be more confined to the administrative side of the role, with little, if any patient contact.

Whatever type of medical organisation you work in, it's essential that you have a thorough working knowledge of medical terminology and this may often need to be highly specialised.

It's a varied, interesting and rewarding job. Typical daily activities can include:

• Handling calls from patients and other medical staff
• Producing complex documents involving medical terminology
• Updating medical records
• Scheduling appointments
• Processing laboratory results
• Liaison with hospitals to admit patients
• Maintenance of medical inventory
• Audio typing patients' records

Your working day revolves around the medical practitioner you're working for so the hours you work can vary immensely from one role to another. Mostly it will be a 9 to 5/6 environment though this could be longer and may include weekend work where required. Part-time roles are commonplace, especially for candidates returning to work after having a child.

There are no formal entry requirements - experience is generally considered to be the most important qualification. Some employers will encourage you to qualify for the Advanced Diploma for Medical Secretaries provided by AMSPAR (Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists) and this will serve you well when looking to advance your career. The course takes a while to complete (up to 2 years) but gives you some sound knowledge of medical terminology and abbreviations, understanding of standard medical practice and the all-important spelling of all those long words!

There are also a variety of NHS courses which, if you work in that field, you are encouraged to attend. It goes without saying that attendance of these courses could enhance your career prospects.

Your next employer could be looking for any, if not all of the following skills:

• Good communication skills
• Sound command of medical terminology
• Patience
• Organisation and efficiency
• Confidentiality
• Team player
• Accurate audio/copy typing skills

There are many opportunities in the medical world to further your career and if you manage to gain a few years' experience as well as some qualifications, you could go on to become a Medical PA or a Practice Manager.

Salary Information

Entry-level salaries are generally between £11000 and £15000. More senior medical secretaries can earn up to £25000 and this can be higher in private practice in the South East.