Job summary
- Main area
- Administrative
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent: 8am-4pm, Mon-Fri
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 196-A&C367
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- St Thomas' Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £27,948 - £29,468 p.a. inclusive of HCA
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 10/05/2024 09:00
Employer heading
Mortuary Administrative Assistant
NHS AfC: Band 3
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Guys and St Thomas' are looking for an Administrative Assistant to join our Mortuary team in the heart of Central London. Based on the River Thames, the hospitals could not be in a better location to enjoy the city and are within walking distance of all that London has to offer. GSTT has a reputation for being an employer of choice with a dynamic working environment and great opportunities for professional growth.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be based within the Mortuary and provide a vital support role to the Mortuary Assistant, Anatomical Pathology Technologists and Consultant Pathologists within this very busy department.
They will also be the first point of contact for bereaved families, friends and carers as well as liaising with our external stakeholders.
To be the right person for this post you will thrive on working in a fast paced environment, enjoy the challenge of adapting to changing priorities and be a natural team player.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
We strive to recruit and retain the best staff as the dedication and skills of our employees lie at the heart of our organisation and ensure that our services are of the highest quality, safe and focused on our patients.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- Key Relationships
Mortuary Assistant, Anatomical Pathology Technologists, Bereavement Officers, Service Manager, Consultants, Junior Doctors, Nurses, Medical and Nursing Students, Biomedical scientists and various external stakeholders; Funeral Directors, Coroner’s Officers, Police Officers.
- Duties and Responsibilities
Organisational and Administrative
- To organise the office work area
- To establish and maintain high standards of work within the office area.
- To ensure that records are kept up to date and stored safely to ensure compliance with good working practices for the standards of ISO accreditation and the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) codes of practice.
- To organise the daily case list in consultation with the APT staff.
- To liaise with and book appointments for funeral directors and/or family to collect deceased patients from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Mortuaries.
- To management appointment diaries
- To book viewings as required and liaise with relevant stakeholders to ensure adequate attendance by qualified staff.
- To maintain professional links with external statutory offices concerned with the administration of death by communicating in an effective and professional manner.
- To book groups attending the Mortuary for lectures in consultation with APT staff.
- To provide secretarial assistance to the department and management team.
- To organise patient transfers when required
- To maintain the departmental filing systems to an acceptable standard in order to comply with ISO and HTA standards.
- To ensure the provision of effective telephone answering service for department.
- To issue official documentation from the department under the direction of APT’s.
- To maintain professional competency and dexterity in those precision based physical tasks, e.g. keyboard skills and maintain the levels of concentration required maintaining a quality service.
- To take minutes at meetings as required
- To identify and participate in audits within the department
- To adhere to all departmental standard operating procedures, policies and health and safety regulations.
- To keep the workplace and work areas clean and tidy
- To control access to the Mortuary within working hours.
Clinical and Laboratory Informatics
- To arrange for the safe collection and transportation of human tissue and samples and to maintain accurate records of dispatch and receipt
- To take case referrals from external service users in liaison with the APTs.
- To obtain relevant clinical information as required for cases including collection from departments if required.
- To enter data onto the Mortuary and Bereavement Microsoft CRM system correctly and with care
Procurement
- To assist the APTs in requisitioning and maintaining adequate supplies of office and Mortuary consumables
- To assist with liaison and emergency call out of engineers and companies related to Mortuary equipment.
- To maintain adequate levels of up to date printed stores
Quality
- To establish and maintain high standards of work in the office and to ensure effective liaison between the Mortuary and all it’s stakeholders.
- To be aware of the requirements of data protection
- To attend departmental meetings as required
- To adhere to all regulations as set out by the HTA
Person specification
Qualifications/Education
Essential criteria
- 5 A*-C GCSEs or equivalent
- Microsoft Office computer skills (Word, Outlook, Excel)
- Excellent communication skills (Written and verbal)
- General computer literacy
- Understanding of issues related to data confidentiality
Desirable criteria
- AMSPAR Qualification
- LCCI Private Secretary's certificate or diploma
- Committed to continuing professional development
Skills/Knowledge/Ability
Essential criteria
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
- Ability to adapt to changing work patterns
- High degree of numeracy
- Experience of tactfully and efficiently dealing with a variety of internal and external professionals and clients/patients ensuring their needs are met
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to: (i) relate to a diverse group of professional staff and public (ii) communicate clearly in writing, face to face and on the phone, (iii) convey sensitive information in an appropriate manner
- Excellent organisational skills, with a demonstrable ability to manage and prioritise workload and work methodically, efficiently and accurately
- Ability to work within a team and develop good working relationships with colleagues at all levels
- Understanding of confidentiality and its application and maintenance in and out of the workplace
Experience
Essential criteria
- 1 year minimum working experience in a secretarial/administrative/ technical appointment in a Mortuary, Funeral Directors or medical environment
Physical requirements
Essential criteria
- Regular requirement to use VDU
Additional information
Essential criteria
- To be flexible in their approach to the work, according to priorities and changing organisational systems
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Allie Spoletini
- Job title
- Mortuary Administrative Assitant
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0207 188 3928
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