Administration Role

[Lisaaas1]

Hello All,
I am excited to be starting a new NHS admin job next week having worked in MH support worker/paed HCA roles for the past few years - previously from an nhs admin background. My new manager is aware its been a whille since working in admin but one of my tasks will be minute taking. A previous manager I was PA for used to request all discussions recorded. I never had any formal training so I'm a bit rusty to say the least and find it difficult to summarise discussions. Any tips or resources online anyone can recommend pls? Thanks 😊

Can you get an agenda before hand so you have a heads up as to:what’s being discussed and who’s attending.

Don’t be afraid to ask something if you miss a point.

Your summaries can be scribbled notes, to be written in more details for later.

Sign up for NHS elect, lots of free online courses. There was a minute taking one a few weeks ago.

Thanks, I did do a course but not with NHS elect but I truly didn't find it helpful. I will have a look at NHS elect though thank you!

I sometimes have to take minutes (not nhs), I get a copy of the agenda in advance, and then check with the meeting chair as to what kind of minutes they are looking for, with us it’s usually a very brief summary of points and then any actions, not verbatim minutes.
In advance I would add the apologies and then literally type directly into the document.
Once the meeting is over I usually take a few minutes to attach any documents that were shared, tidy up any areas which were sort of scrappy and send them back within an hour or so of the meeting finishing. That way they can check them over and ask for any amendments to be made while it’s still fresh in their mind too.

It comes with practice. Scribble key phrases and initials of who said them, don't worry about making sense of it there and then, to start with your manager should be able to piece it back together and should be able to guide on style, you'll get more confident as time goes on. If there's docs on the agenda that might be amended or eg a risk log or action log where they'll update on each action, consider printing a copy beforehand to scribble on, and agenda so you can easily refer to write the item number down when they change topics. Have an attendance list printed so you can tick who's there. In a first big face to face meeting I draw the table and write initials of who is sitting where as they do introductions in my notes so I can refer to that if I forget names. In Teams if it's not recorded consider screenshotting the participant list. If you're taking over an existing meeting get hold of previous minutes for format style and level of detail. Choose a pen you can write lots fast in without it hurting and have spares and lots of paper in case attendees ask to steal some! If you're not sure of bits don't spend hours trying to perfect it just highlight them to manager in time for them to have time to amend them. You'll be fine! It's a nice job listening I think.

Thank you all.I have managed to get the handout for the minutes course on NHS Elect. Appreciate the tips I am sure with some practice I'll be fine.