Medical secretary - which course? How?

[NeurologyLady]

Helloooo everyone,

Can any NHS admin / secretary or HR types please tell me which Medical Secretary courses / qualifications would be recognised by the NHS?

I have an IT role but want to be more medical and go down this route.

Thanks

I worked as a medical secretary and then PA in mental health. I don’t know if a general hospital is different, but I never did a medical secretary course, nor was it a requirement in the job adverts. They were more interested in PA/ Secretarial experience, some asked for NVQ or CLAIT, but was not essential.

As long as you have some relevant secretarial experience, you should be ok to apply. I was a band 4 as a med sec, but most now are advertised as band 2 or 3. A band 4 is often leading a team of band 2/3 as direct reports, as well as doing their own job now so can be quite stressful.

AMSPAR

Not cheap, but if you can get an administration role, the trust might pay for an apprenticeship or qualification.

I personally would look into a different career, med secs are exploited and pushed to the limits.

I work in nhs administration. Most medical secretary don't have formal qualifications just experience of working in and office using Microsoft Office. The in-house system for appointments is taught on the job

Pitman Training do med sec courses. It's a recognised brand

You really do need some understanding of medical terminology and procedures to be a safe medical secretary. The problem today is that mistakes are made because they are expecting inexperienced/untrained staff to do the job.

Yes indeed - you run the risk of someone typing "sick as hell anaemia"