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The post holder will provide a pivotal administrative and secretarial service to consultants

and their clinical teams. They will work flexibly with the other team members within the

Clinical Support Unit and provide a professional, efficient administrative service to patients.

While the post holder will be formally identified as either a Medical Secretary or Patient

Pathway Coordinator, in recognition of their specific function within each Clinical Support

Unit, this job description has been designed to function as a generic description for both

roles. This is in recognition of the combined nature of the role in certain departments, and

of the expectation of full cross-cover within unit teams. Local policies and processes will

more closely define the day to day requirements of each role.

• To be the point of contact for all patients issues relating to their pathway of care.


• To be responsible for the management of the patient pathway, from referral to first outpatient appointment, through diagnostics, treatment planning, treatment, and follow-up, highlighting any potential delays in the pathway and ensuring accurate data collection to support the process.


• To work as part of a multidisciplinary team under the direction of the Clinical Service Unit (CSU) Patient Pathway Lead (PPL), supporting the business and operational management of the CSU.


• To ensure high levels of patient and clinician satisfaction by being an accessible, customer focussed and knowledgeable point of contact.


• To provide a consistent approach across the Trust, Standard Operating


• Procedures (SOP) will describe how the functions of this role will be carried out along with the timescales to which are to be adhered.


• Provide comprehensive secretarial/PA support to consultants and clinical teams within the CSU.


• To routinely attend performance review meetings and ensure that agreed actions and outcomes are requested, documented and monitored.

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) is the largest orthopaedic hospital in the UK, and is regarded as a leader in the field of orthopaedics both in the UK and world-wide. The RNOH provides a comprehensive range of neuro-musculoskeletal health care, ranging from acute spinal injury or complex bone tumour to orthopaedic medicine and specialist rehabilitation. This broad range of services is unique within the NHS.

As a national centre of excellence, the RNOH treats patients from across the country, many of whom have been referred by other hospital consultants for second opinions or for treatment of complex or rare conditions.

Patients benefit from a team of highly specialised consultants, many of whom are nationally and internationally recognised for their expertise and experience. Consultants are supported in their work by nurses, therapists and other specialist clinical staff who are trained experts in their particular fields of orthopaedic care.

General Administration

• Use Trust IT systems to ensure relevant and appropriate patient information is entered and captured.


• Investigate any patient DNAs and deferrals, communicating information to the clinical team as appropriate, updating PAS and waitlists accordingly.


• Monitor and manage clinic and theatre lists for review by consultants, delegating appropriate actions to other team members, and issues that cannot be resolvedto the PPL.


• Collate all appropriate information in a timely manner for MDT meetings, and attend as appropriate.


• Facilitate and arrange meetings and room bookings, related to the management of the patient pathway.


• Handle post according to standard operating procedures.


• Undertake general typing duties e.g. references, patient information leaflets, rotas and staff appraisals.


• To participate in the transcription (and/or topping and tailing) of clinical correspondence, approaching clinical staff to authorise, and sending out ofauthorised letters.


• Provision of PA support to consultants and their teams as directed.


• Maintain clinician’s commitments diary and provide support for any other duties undertaken by the clinician.


• Provide leadership and direction to junior members within the team.


• Draft agendas and take and transcribe minutes of meetings as required in a timely manner.


• Assist PPL with local induction and provide mentoring of new staff.


• Assist and participate with the recruitment of staff as required.


• Responsible for coordinating and typing specialist and/or confidential reports e.g. DVLA, Registration of blind patients, inquests, police reports.


• Co-ordinate and process clinical staff leave requests (and other absences), ensuring relevant activity is cancelled.


• Ensure that Department supplies are ordered cost effectively and stocks are maintained including maintenance of office equipment in line with Trust policy.


• Actively participate within allocated teams to ensure duties and responsibilities are equally shared including covering staff absences.


• Monitor own workload to ensure that CSU Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to your role are being met, or escalated to your manager if performanceis below required level.


• Support any service development projects in the implementation of pilot programmes or new systems for e.g. inpatient admissions, partial booking, pre-assessmentappointments, C&B as required.


• Attend meetings for service development initiatives as and when requested.


• To be able to contribute to continuous service improvement initiatives by the use of good analytical skills to identify areas for improvement and problem-solving.

Outpatient Pathway

• Ensure that referral management is dealt with in accordance with Patient Access Policy (PAP) and SOPs.


• Undertake the scheduling of New and follow-up appointments to ensure compliance with national and local standards for performance and quality.


• Ensure that any diagnostics and investigations that are required as part of the patient pathway are requested according to SOP and that the results are available forconsultations. This will include those that are carried out at other Trusts.


• Co-ordinate appointments and procedures at other hospitals and organisations, where the pathway requires input from these.


• Action all C&B activities and worklists as identified in SOPs. Escalate to PPL where standards cannot be met or where there is a gap in SOP.


• Monitor the Trust’s medical transcription system and ensure that letters are processed in accordance with SOP.


• Liaise with multi-disciplinary staff both within and outside the Trust to ensure any additional appropriate information relating to the patient is available for outpatient appointments and consultations.


• Under guidance and advice, arrange special investigations for patients.


• Deal with clinic issues on the day that have been escalated.


• Supervise clinic activity to ensure all investigations, relevant bookings and appointments have been carried out.

Pathway tracking

• To understand 18 weeks referral to treatment (RTT) rules and use them to manage all elective patient journeys.


• To participate in the validation of the RTT Patient Tracking List. Investigate and take appropriate actions where pathways are incomplete to ensure that patientsare receiving timely treatment and Trust information is robust.


• To be responsible for identifying and escalating any issues to the PPL which could compromise delivery of the 18 week RTT pathway, e.g. lack of capacity either inoutpatients or for surgery.


• Ensure inter-provider transfers are timely and that the appropriate paperwork has been completed and sent or received.


• Liaise with internal and external colleagues to share patient pathway information and diagnostic information, and expedite patient journeys where needed.


• Manage consultant to consultant referrals/transfers of care to avoid delays.


• Manage and monitor outpatient and theatre scheduling (where appropriate), making best use of capacity, giving early warnings of where demand exceedscapacity (or vice versa).


• Ensure trust systems are updated with patient pathway status information and that data quality is maintained.


• Proactively manage pathway to avoid breach targets and take steps to resolve any issues e.g. 28 day cancelled operations. Escalate to PPL where this cannot beachieved.


• To validate and analyse data and produce ad hoc reports as directed by the Service Manager.


• To assist the Service Managers with the collection and analysis of relevant metric or performance data.

Communications/Customer Service

• Demonstrate high levels of customer care and be an ambassador for customer care within the trust.


• Act as the communication hub for the clinical team, other PPCs, primary care, patients and their relatives as well as internal and external organisations.


• To be responsible for dealing with and recording all concerns/complaints coming into the department, both on the telephone and in writing, escalating as appropriate.


• Liaise with Patient Experience Team, Patient Feedback systems and groups and any other patient forums to improve care for patients.


• To be responsible for timely written and verbal communications with patients, clinicians, nursing staff and management.


• Deal with patient pathway queries from other organisations.


• Attend clinics where appropriate to co-ordinate the patient pathway.


• Facilitate the timely production and dissemination of discharge summaries to achieve quality measures.


• To attend meetings/workshops offsite as required.


• Act as liaison between consultant, GP, patients and their relatives and other relevant agencies.

Inpatient Pathway (speciality-specific)

• Ensure that Trust agreed standard of service is delivered to patients requiring elective admission to the speciality


• Ensure details of patients to be admitted are entered onto PAS


• Ensure that appropriate tests and investigations are arranged and completed, with the results available before surgery


• Undertake the scheduling of admitted procedures to ensure compliance with national and local standards for performance and quality


• Liaise with theatres to ensure that specialist equipment is available where needed and theatre slots are utilised appropriately. Ensure ward, surgery areas and clinical teams are aware of patients who have been booked in for surgery and any special requirements for the admission


• Inform and liaise with the Clinical Site Management team and clinical team that ITU/HDU beds have been booked for elective patients where needed


• Proactively produce reports to inform clinical teams of pathway management


• Prepare and communicate final theatre lists to all clinical areas and leads and any subsequent changes to lists