General Practice Assistant (GPA)

Job summary
Closing date: 1st November
Interview date: 11th November
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (7 hours each day)

The General Practice Assistant (GPA) will support the clinical staff with the smooth running of clinics by performing the more routine administration and clinical tasks, on behalf of the clinical team, freeing up their time for better patient care and continuity. A sound professional working relationship will be required with all the staff working within the Practice and the PCN. The role requires high levels of organisation and excellent interpersonal skills.

Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will be proactive, have excellent organisational skills and be able to prioritise their own and others workloads to enable them to work under pressure and meet deadlines effectively.

Effective communication skills and teamwork are crucial in a multidisciplinary environment, helping ensure the quality and consistency of the services the practice provides. The post requires a pleasant and approachable manner with the ability to exercise tact and discretion as well as being able to use initiative.

The Practice will support continuing education and professional development in the form of attendance at study days, courses and with in-house training, as deemed appropriate for the benefit of both the individual and the Practice.

About us
Canterbury Medical Practice's priority is to provide the highest standard of clinical care to the 24,000+ patients registered with the Practice as well as those from other practices who are seen in our additional clinics. We aim to work collaboratively with other healthcare providers and support organisations, to enable more patients to be treated in a primary care setting, closer to home. We embrace a continuous improvement ethos and strive to ensure that we are available to patients when they need a consultation. We have a holistic approach to patient care and a strong training ethos within the practice with a team of medical and non-medical educators as well as opportunities for non-clinical staff to develop and progress.

We aim to:

• provide high quality clinical care
• meet our patients needs
• act with integrity and complete confidentiality
• be courteous, approachable, friendly and accommodating
• ensure we provide safe and effective services and environments
• to put patient care at the centre of what we do
• to maintain a motivated and skilled workforce
• use feedback, monitoring and auditing to continuously improve our services
• treat all patients and staff with dignity, respect and honesty

Job responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the GP Assistant. There may be on occasion a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels. The role will require an undertaking and participation of supporting the clinical team. Although not an exhaustive list, the GPA duties will include:

• Performing venepuncture in accordance with practice protocols
• Obtaining patient consent for the collection of a blood sample
• Maintaining accurate patient records on EMIS
• Ensuring samples are correctly labelled, packages, stored and sent to the laboratory in a timely manner
• Taking blood pressures, urine analysis in accordance with practice protocols
• Support with the NHS health checks
• Ensuring medication reviews are arranged as per practice protocols
• Deal with all prescription related enquiries in a timely manner. Record and report adverse effects accurately and appropriately. Reviewing discharge summaries and other documents with medication changes and transferring to patient medical records
• Ensure accurate coding of data on EMIS
• Extracting all information from clinical letters that need coding and adding to notes
• Sorting all clinical post and prioritising for the GP in terms of actions. Signposting post to others such as ACP, nurse etc
• Supporting clinicians with medical reports
• Liaising with outside agencies i.e. district nurses
• To keep up to date with the practice policies and procedures
• Any other duties commensurate with the role

Qualifications
Desirable

• Health & Social Care Qualification

Experience
Essential

• Broad knowledge of General Practice
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Display good initiative and judgement consummate to the role
• Highly organised and excellent attention to detail
• Time management and ability to prioritise workload
• Flexible, ability to step in to support other team members when required
• Polite and confident
• Enthusiastic and motivated
• Adaptable and a good team player
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines

Desirable

• Experience working in a primary care setting
• Understanding and knowledge of healthcare provision in GP practices, QOF, PCN and enhanced services
• Good clinical system IT knowledge of EMIS

Other requirements
Essential

• Ability to travel between CMP sites

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.