Able to feel valued as part of a collaborative team.Making calls and emailing GP letters.Informing patients about long waiting lists all the time is very frustrating.Some appointments are directly bookable online so when able to book appointments, satisfying when able to email an appointment to patients.

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Poor pay and management

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - North West - 13 May 2022

Staff need better salaries and managers need better training. I love almost everything else about my job. The NHS as a whole needs a procurement and recruitment overhaul because both aspects are expensive and poor quality.

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Insights into NHS

Based on 1,202 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Support from manager
Sense of belonging
Trust in colleagues

Productive and nice place to work

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Bradford - 25 April 2022

There can be times it can be stressful but not all the time, sometimes you feel like you are well supported by your team managers and very understanding about everybody's circumstances.Overall the pay is good but can be even greater if we had more better pay for the hard work we do here. However it is not bad pay but reasonable.

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Great culture.

Medical Secretary (Former Employee) - Oxford, Oxfordshire - 26 February 2022

Great place to work. Plenty of jobs to move into. The major downside is the pay, but the perks are fantastic. Excellent maternity leave, brilliant pension.

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Flexi management is a joke. No support at all. Cannot get hold of them.

Medical Secretary/Administrator (Former Employee) - Cornwall - 17 February 2022

Flexi management are impossible to get hold of. Never return calls or emails. You are replaceable and they make you feel that way. There is always someone else to pick that shift up.

Pros

NHS benefits

Cons

Lack of support and certainty of money

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Med sec to 2 orthopaedic surgeons. also jumped into other consultants work if there was no cover.

Medical Secretary (Former Employee) - Stanmore - 30 December 2021

Loved working here loved the consultants. Unfortunately the so called line manager was lazy and repeatedly left early walked out at random times to do personal things. Then spent the day chatting and texting online shopping Despite complaining to the service manager several times nothing was done.

Pros

None

Cons

Excessive work load

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Highly stressful

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Coventry - 6 December 2021

I work in a lovely team of myself plus two other secretaries - unfortunately that's pretty much the only plus (there is also a nice variety of tasks to the role, although far, far too much work for just the three of us). My two colleagues are very hardworking, helpful and always have my back, and I have theirs. We are very short staffed though and have been asking for years for extra secretarial support which is still yet to come, but has been promised for a while now. Some of the surgeons can be rude and belittling towards us, even indulging in derogatory rants against us, yet management let them do and say whatever they want. The workload is insane and makes myself and my two colleagues highly stressed every hour, day, week. We have regular health issues because of it. I am not planning to stay. I can only speak for my experience so other departments might be better but my experience has unfortunately not been very good.

Pros

Fantastic hardworking colleagues

Cons

Huge workload that is totally unfeasible, short staffed

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Culture of bullying. No progression opportunities

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Warrington - 26 July 2021

Bullying culture, jobs for friends, HR totally ineffective and do not follow their own policies or timeframes. Staff not listened to and undervalued. Part time staff overlooked for progression with no consideration for job sharing.

Pros

Good pension

Cons

Undervalued, little progression for part time workers

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Attention to detail and formal

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Derby - 29 March 2021

Working in this environment requires patience, attention to detail and the requirement to work within rigid time restraints. There are opportunities for progression if you can find the time to develop.

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Fast-paced and mainly rewarding

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Coventry - 10 March 2021

Staff shortages can cause stress in fast-paced environment dealing with many urgent issues on a daily basis. Must be able to work under pressure at all times Otherwise very rewarding career choice.

Pros

Rewarding

Cons

Staff shortages

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Medical Secretary - Ears, Nose and Throat

106186 Medical Secretary

Fast paced, but supportive staff

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Stoke-on-Trent - 15 January 2021

Caring Drs and nurses to work with - it is fast paced with not enough time to get work done at this time, because of COVID-19 changes to processes, but there are friendly supportive staff to help with the stress.

Pros

Caring people

Cons

Fast paced and can be stressful

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Rewarding and helpful staff

Medical Secretary/Administrator (Former Employee) - Colney, Norfolk - 22 October 2020

I have to say I disagree with a lot of the negative comments on here. I worked on the clerical and admin staff bank for a number of years and also had permanent employment here. I found the staff and management to be helpful and supportive. Mostly, the secretaries were grateful for my help. I'm only sorry I had to leave to relocate but hope to be back at some point in the near future 😊

Pros

Flexible working times, supportive staff, regular park and ride service

Cons

Sometimes thrown in at the deep end if permanent staff member absent. However, I found it a challenge!

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Enjoyed many years there

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Dermatology - 23 August 2020

I was happy in my role for many years. There are lots of chances for career progression and training if you want this. I had great colleagues and it was mainly a very friendly place to work over most of my career. If departments are too busy there may not always be the flexibility to reduce your hours. Very close to the station - 5 minute walk.

Pros

Good salary

Cons

Flexible hours not always possible if department too busy

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Dr Logan's GP Surgery, Wishaw, Houldsworth Centre NHS LANARKSHIRE

Medical Secretary (Former Employee) - Wishaw, North Lanarkshire - 20 August 2020

Work conditions were horrific. National Scottish Living Wage paid for what you were expected to do was a joke. No single days holiday not unless you had a special occasion and even on that special occasion refused. Impossible to take a week's holiday during any school time despite having a child at school. Favourites (or "Senior's" as Practice Manager called them) always allowed holidays, time off for things like 'dress fittings' and daft things whilst the rest of us knocked our pan in and couldn't even attend kids leaving school assembly. Practice Manager would often leave at 12 noon with place in a chaotic mess. Staff regularly would cry with stress, workload was unbearable with one 45min break on a 10 hour shift (which is in fact illegal). The worst job I ever had and taught me never to take nonsense like this from an inept employer ever. Took me a good 10 months to get another job due to no time off allowed. Couple of rude Doctor's into the bargain who wouldn't even acknowledge a polite Good Morning or hello.....

Pros

None

Cons

Everything as mentioned above

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Don't do it!

Medical Secretary (Former Employee) - Oncology - 20 March 2020

You'll be fine if your face fits. Management doesn't listen, one foot wrong or go against them, your card will be marked and you will be labeled as difficult until they can drive you out and this will be very subtly done so you can't prove anything. Try it out, you might be ok, time will tell, just watch your back and trust no one. I could go on but see for yourself.

Pros

Security/salary/sick pay/holiday

Cons

no promotion/bullying/stress/poor management

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Unhelpful colleagues

Medical Secretary/Administrator (Former Employee) - Stanmore - 13 March 2020

They don’t take time or have time to train you properly and expect you to know how to work systems without being trained. Each department passes the buck saying it’s not their responsibility to train you.

Pros

Car parking free of charge

Cons

Selfish staff with no consideration for newcomers

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Stressful working in psychiatry

Medical Secretary (Former Employee) - Bury - 4 March 2020

The manager made our departments job very hard because she was a bad manager with obviously no managerial training. The work load was very high and grade and pay were reduced at the time I worked there. The consultant I worked for was the only reason I stayed so long.

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depressing

Medical Secretary (Band 4) - Patient Pathway Coordinator - Administrator (Former Employee) - East London - 26 January 2020

very boring on your own in front of a computer inputting data for 8 hours. depressing after a while. pay is really decent very strict with data time really does drag, depending on location and which centre your working with sometimes you could be in a team or on your own.

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Medical Secretary (Wythenshawe)

Medical secretary (Current Employee) - Wythenshawe, Cheshire - 16 January 2020

Very stressful, never enough staff, as non-clinical staff there are no opportunities for career development/progression. The car parking is shocking! Your assigned a manager and never have any dealings with them, so your treated unfairly by those a band above you! Some staff are made to do a lot more than others and it is a very clicky place to work.

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Not the best place to work

Medical Secretary (Current Employee) - Coventry, West Midlands - 6 January 2020

I feel that the nhs as a whole has declined in its overall care of patients and focuses more on the monetary side of things. This is something that frustrates me greatly as management just push for results and not patient care.

Pros

Consultants are friendly and approachable

Cons

Bullying culture

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Nhs

Medical Secretary/Audio Typist (Former Employee) - Scotland - 4 December 2019

don't bother working here, pay not good, The people are difficult to work with and not understanding neither are they approachable. I found when I applied for other positions, that I was bullied and not treated fairly! Big bullying going on and FAVORITISM

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