Trainee Practice Assistant (Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship)
As a Trainee Practice Assistant, you will play a crucial role in supporting the efficient functioning of a general practice setting. This apprenticeship opportunity gives you the hands-on skills and experience of primary care.
Over 18-months you will learn a range of skills and gain lots of experience to support you with starting your career in the NHS. On completion of the training there will be scope for further development in clinical and non-clinical career pathways.
Key skills you will learn during this apprenticeship:
Communications skills to liaise with a range of people and partner organisations, including responding to inquiries from patients and their families, providing basic information, and directing them to the appropriate healthcare professionals or resources.
Digital skills – learning a range of IT software and databases
Organisation and co-ordination skills – gain basic project management skills to meet Practice targets and help improve processes
Administrative skills: Assist with general administrative tasks such as handling phone calls, managing emails, processing paperwork, and maintaining electronic and physical records.
Collaboration: working closely with the Practice team, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other administrative staff
Confidentiality and Data Protection: Maintain strict confidentiality of patient information and adhering to data protection regulations in handling sensitive medical records and personal information.
This apprenticeship will provide you with valuable exposure to the primary care environment, enabling you to develop essential skills in customer service, administration, teamwork, and confidentiality. You will have the opportunity to learn from experienced professionals while contributing to the efficient delivery of healthcare services within a general practice.
Key responsibilities
Whilst gaining skills within the Practice, you will be following the Business Administration Level 3 Standard with Training Provider Community Matters. This will involve a blend of formal study and self-directed learning.
During your apprenticeship you will learn how to:
Provide administrative workflow
Book, maintain and monitor the Practice's appointment system
Process Practice correspondence (paper, electronic, email) attaching it to the patient record
Answer incoming phone calls, transferring calls or dealing with the callers request appropriately
Deal with requests from patients, team members and external agencies
Follow up with patients’ chronic illness reviews
Read code data on the electronic patient record system EMIS
Provide administration for doctors and the practice manager
Provide accurate data entry
Learn the key Practice procedures
Liaise with other health professionals
Work on short projects as part of your apprenticeship training programme.
Taking clinical meeting minutes
Process letters
File all lateral flow results.
Identify any key clinical data from correspondence, such as new diagnoses, peak flow measures, BP recordings, height, weight, smoking status
Coordinating test requests i.e. bloods, x-rays, scans etc as required via the workflow process including contacting the patient, generating the test request form and arranging any follow up coordination as required
Draft responses to consult letters for GPs