Mortuary Administrative Assistant

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.

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.

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.

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