Medical Secretary in

Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators, (2011) 12, 46–54
SEPTEMBER
September JMSA Contents
46
Feedback from Recent BSMSA Events, by Melanie Muldoon
47
“What is a Medical Secretary?” And Other Facebook Posts
48
What an Extraordinary Meeting! By Jane Daulman
49
Medical Secretaries in the NHS – Restructure, Rename or Relegate to History?
By Hilary Roberts
50
Medical Secretary in “the Dragon’s Den”, by Vikki Hughes
52
Women and Heart Attacks (Myocardial Infarction)
54
How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone
Feedback from
Recent BSMSA Events
Buffet and Shopping, Manchester –
and Possible Winter Event?
Society News
A lovely lunch at Zinc Bar on Saturday 20 August
was enjoyed by seven of us – we did have a great
time putting the NHS world to rights, but it would
have been even better if more people had been
able to join us.
I would like to have another lunch at the beginning of December when the Christmas Markets
come to Manchester. They are really spectacular
and getting better every year. Please let me know
if you think you would like to come and, if sufficient people can guarantee they are going
to be there, we can look into details. If you
would like to attend please let me know at the
address below.
Extraordinary General Meeting,
30 July 2011
In case anyone doesn’t know yet but as the
British Society of Medical Secretaries and
Administrators is no more and has been
replaced by BSMSA Ltd. A big “thank you” to all
46
Listening Intently at the Zinc Bar.
who managed to attend the EGM, and for the
unanimous vote.
Melanie Muldoon
CEO of the BSMSA
[email protected]
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
T
here were over 50 postings on the BSMSA
Facebook page in August – on subjects
varying from the fate of medical secretaries,
the value of training, and working in typing
pools. Here’s a brief selection – comments
welcome!
of a friendly ear? It certainly won’t be the
management!
Down grading posts is also going on, with the
expectation of doing the same role; what happened to the agenda for change?
Come on ladies and gents, let’s make a stand.
More secretaries, not management … After all
they obviously have not done a very good job of
managing so far.
A Call To Arms?
Swedish Secretaries seeking contact
Angie Le-Gallez writes: What is a medical secretary? She is the centre cog in the big wheel we
call the NHS, we are at present being devalued
and looked at as nothing more than audio
typists. The Trust I work for is going to voice
recognition (VR) and reducing the medical
secretaries by half. The joke here is at the
presentation of VR, the person who “taught” the
system, so it knows his voice extremely well,
dictated three sentences which produced two
mistakes: one minor and one major – the words
were not even remotely similar! We need to
petition to save our CAREERS, this is what I class
my role as, a career, just like the Consultants
and nurses. I trained for my career, twice actually as my manager at the time would not
recognise my qualifications from Australia!
That’s a big joke when a lot of degrees that
management hold have nothing to do with
managing!
Who will the patients talk to? Who will be
at the end of the phone when a patient is in need
Zara Ovaska writes: We are two students
from Sweden, studying to become Medical
Transcriptionists. We have now been assigned to
write an extended essay and the subject we have
chosen is the profession/education in England
vs. Sweden. We would be very grateful if anyone
would be interested in establishing an e-mail
contact with us for an interview and further
questions we might have. Please contact us on:
[email protected] or minna.forsberg
@telia.com
ARTICLES
“What is a Medical Secretary?”
And Other Facebook Posts
Medical Terminology Help
Romayne Grubb: I’ve done a medicine terminology course and found it invaluable. The suffix
and prefix section helps with the translation,
and is invaluable for the correct spelling, as so
often two words may sound the same but are
not. It gives a better understanding of the medical terminology to use when speaking to a doctor
or consultant.
47
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
What an Extraordinary Meeting!
Jane Daulman
Resuscitation Co-ordinator
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
J
ARTICLES
uly 30 2011, 06:30 hrs, on ‘planet Fanet’
(that’s the glorious Isle of Thanet to you). The
sun was shining, the cat was hungry and I was
heading for the shower. In the car by 08:00 hrs
and heading up the M2, expecting Dartford
crossing trouble, but no, all was free flowing
and fast. So, with nothing eventful happening on
the journey, I arrived at the really interesting
(please note the sarcasm) Holiday Inn Express at
Northampton one whole hour early.
Thus far reader, you may be expressing an air
of repressed boredom, so I will leap forward in
time. 12:00 hrs and the room was filling, the conversation was lively and the prospect of lunch
anticipatory. Melanie fired the metaphorical
starting pistol and we were off to the buffet –
which was delicious.
OK, the point of the whole mission was to vote
for the BSMSA in its aim to become a limited
company. We all did, which is why we had all
made such a point of turning up – it’s quite
important to turn up to things chaps! In our small
way we made history on that afternoon, despite
having to pay our own petrol to get there. It was
definitely worth it and not only for the vote, but
also to meet names on Facebook or emails and
put the faces to them. To talk, discuss, argue,
innovate or whatever – networking it used to be
called. Very useful and highly enjoyable.
48
All was over before 14:00 hrs and we could
drive away feeling that something extremely
constructive had been achieved.
I was lucky enough to be carrying on up the
M1 to spend the night with friends nearby whom
I had not had the chance to see for a couple of
years. I had a lovely time, particularly shovelling
forbidden food such as Nettie’s homemade
Chocolate Brownies. Boy, can that girl bake!
Mind you, she does do it for a living and no
wonder.
Now I had left my long suffering husband
at home again, having celebrated our silver
wedding anniversary a few days before – house
still looked and smelled (wonderfully) like a florist’s. What did he get up to while my back was
turned? A huge splinter in the knuckle of one of
his fingers from a spot of gardening AND a large
gash on head from slipping over in the bathroom!
Honestly, you just can’t leave them can you?!
He told me all this first thing the following
morning, over the phone, as I was packing my
bag to come home. Apparently the finger was
sore and swollen because he hadn’t done anything about the splinter (sigh).
Now, ordinarily I wouldn’t be too concerned.
However, hubby is on rat poison following recent
pulmonary emboli (no, we hadn’t been long
haul flying anywhere more’s the pity), so the
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
bathroom looked like the Texas chainsaw massacre apparently. He’d cleaned it up (he said),
but he now had quite a headache.
I think I can safely say that most of my journey
home was not overly legal in terms of speed,
until I hit the five mile tail-back to the Dartford
crossing. This took thirty-five minutes to work
my way through the full gamut of Anglo-Saxon
swear words before throwing my £1.50 at the
machine and accelerating away from the toll
with one final expletive.
Husband is fine. Head healing well and
bathroom blood free. Knuckle, however, did
require a visit to A&E for half inch splinter
removal. My first aid skills (which are world
renowned) couldn’t have coped with that;
it was huge.
Life back to normal now – except of course it’s
August and all the new Doctors have arrived.
That will be another story …
Two morals here, chaps:
1) Push the apathy to the back of your
wardrobe and turn up to events because
it really is worth it.
2) Don’t leave the husband at home, alone!
Medical Secretaries in
the NHS – Restructure,
Rename or Relegate
to History?
Hilary Roberts
Medical Secretarial Services Manager, Barking, Havering
and Redbridge University Hospital NHS Trust
a recent departmental restructure has ensured
the Trust benefits financially whilst the consultants retain the essential services of a medical
secretary and the workload is completed within
an acceptable timeframe. This ensures that
patient care is not compromised and job
satisfaction is retained.
ARTICLES
M
edical secretaries, along with many
other groups of A&C staff in the NHS,
have been the target of cuts, redundancies and department reconfigurations for some
time. The future for this profession is looking
bleak, as in many NHS Trusts across the country
the understanding and value of this staff group
seems to have been unrecognised and undervalued. Many Trusts have put medical secretarial
posts at risk and staff have been made redundant
or redeployed to other departments. Other Trusts
have not recruited to vacancies or changed the
role to such an extent that it no longer bears any
resemblance to the well known and essential
medical secretarial remit.
However, I believe it is possible to achieve the
financial saving requirements whilst retaining
the essential core of the medical secretarial role
along with ensuring the total workload is dealt
with in a timely fashion. Based in an NHS Trust
that currently uses analogue dictation and audio
typing along with a non-integrated PAS system,
Restructure
At Barking, Havering and Redbridge University
Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) all the medical secretaries working in clinical specialties are managed
centrally by the Medical Secretarial Services
Manager. The department is separated into six
teams, each headed by a senior secretary who
manages the staff and ensures the workload is
completed within the required timeframe. Five
of the teams comprise medical secretaries in
specialty based teams working alongside two or
three consultants, and the sixth team consists
of medical secretaries, junior secretaries and
49
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
clerical assistants who support the department
across all specialties in order to meet the varying
workload demands.
How it works
The key to the success of this has been to ensure
the structure was right and accepted by the senior
consultant team. Based on the RCP guidelines of
one secretary working with two or three consultants, along with additional staff at lower bands
to support the tasks,(1) the department has retained
the medical secretarial role with the existing job
description and developed a career path to support the ongoing training and development of
the wider secretarial services department.
Emphasis has been placed on providing an equitable level of PA/point of contact support for
consultants with varying levels of junior secretarial and administrative support in order to
respond to the differing workload demands in
the individual specialties. At the time of writing
this new structure is in its infancy, but is showing
early signs of improvements in turnaround times
for clinical typing as well as responding to patient
queries more efficiently. Recruitment to the lower
banded posts has been very encouraging with
high quality applicants applying for posts at
bands 2 and 3.
Reference:
The Future
In conjunction with the Education and Training
Department, plans are underway to ensure junior
ARTICLES
Medical
Secretary in “the
Dragon’s Den”
Vikki Hughes
Secretary Urology Department, The Kent &
Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury
M
y first medical secretary role in the NHS
was in the Urology department at the
Kent and Canterbury Hospital although
I had worked at two other jobs with the service
50
staff who wish to acquire professional secretarial
skills have access to the required training, including learning to (audio) type to a professional
standard, as well as the other essential skills of a
medical secretary. Handbooks providing specialty specific information are in development
and those currently in use are proving to be helpful and informative. In the longer term these will
form the basis for competency assessments and
in conjunction with the appraisal process will
ensure the department develops a highly trained
and experienced team of medical secretaries to
support the Trust into the future. Staff appraisals
are carried out by the relevant senior secretary
that has greatly improved compliance with this
national target – 100% as at December 2010.
There is hope for the future of the medical secretarial profession at BHRUT. The Trust has seen
younger people join the department, and show
a keen interest in developing the knowledge and
skills to become valuable medical secretaries.
This is at a time when there is the prospect of
losing a significant number of existing staff,
along with their knowledge and experience
due to retirement. This restructure has already
shown to be a way of encouraging younger
people to embark on this rewarding, essential
and stimulating career.
1. Roberts H, Burnham R. College
Commentary, October/November 2006.
London: Royal College of Physicians.
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
designed to break down some of the barriers
which prevented staff from accessing funds.
At the time and too my shame I did not always
read every page of the weekly internal newspaper, Trust News. So when I got talking informally
to the Director of communications at a press
launch my consultant was taking part in, at how
busy I was he suggested I should stop grumbling
and do something about it by submitting a proposal to the new “After Dragons Den” event that
was being advertised in that week’s edition of
Trust News.
The process is simple. The Director of Finance
will bring his cheque book and people like me
will make a presentation to convince him that
we need his cash. He is supported by a consultant and a senior nurse so that the panel can ask
wide-ranging questions.
The key to success is proper preparation,
a fully analysed and justified case for cash which
will improve the efficiency of your department,
save money and – most importantly – improve
patient care and outcomes. It would, he
explained, be similar to the TV programme (much
scarier, but of course with more handsome
judges!). I said I would think about it. It didn’t
need much thinking. I knew I had to do it.
I decided to seize the opportunity. My proposal would be to ask for £9,000 to enable us to
introduce digital dictation into the urology
department to replace the old analogue system.
No tapes, no delays and a massive improvement
in our service to patients and their GP’s.
I submitted my proposal and the next day
I was asked to take part. I had ten days to research
and write a fifteen minute presentation. After
coercing my colleague, Jenny, into helping me
I spent the next week or so compiling it with
the help of a very patient sales rep from a digital
dictation software company and my even more
patient children who had to be my audience
when practicing!
Ten long days later it was complete and I knew
everything about the proposal; facts, figures,
benefits and possible staff savings, inside out and
back to front. June the 14th arrived and so did
the butterflies in my stomach. I donned my best
suit and high heels and I arrived at the William
Harvey with Jen and met with all the other
“contestants”. My child care had failed to appear
so I brought my long suffering children with me
and sat them in the audience. Unfortunately,
there was no bar so we had to rely on each other
for Dutch courage. The order of the evening was
explained and I was 5th out of 6 to present
which meant even more butterflies as I waited
for my turn.
ARTICLES
for over eight years. I had always felt that there
was more I could do, more of a contribution
I could make to patients. Following a clinical
training path would take too long, so I decided to
study at home for my AMSPAR qualification
and was successful in securing the second job
I applied for.
Urology welcomed me with open arms and I
sank into them happily. The workload was huge;
but with the help of my brilliant colleagues and
the support of my wonderfully patient consultant, I was able to hit the ground walking and
settle into my role easily. I soon discovered that
a surprisingly large part of my work as a newly
qualified medical secretary was in fact that of a
tape typist. Typing up doctor’s notes and reports
is essential for patient welfare, but it seemed to
me that after all the work I had put in to qualify,
something was missing.
Like any mother with children, I am well aware
of the wonders of modern technology and was
frankly amazed at the primitive – and, in my
view, ineffective – way in which we had to work
using analogue dictation equipment that was
cutting edge technology in the days of kaftans
and Demis Rousoss (that’s almost half a century
away in case you were wondering).
Every day I saw problems caused because
tapes could go missing, deteriorate and become
unusable or break because of overuse. To make
things worse these little tapes would sometimes
sit on the shelf for weeks waiting to be typed up
in order of clinic priority rather than patient
need. This system had been in place for a long
time, was well established and as far as all were
concerned it was working well – but I thought it
could work so much better, and updating the
technology would deliver two major outcomes.
The first is that patients’ letters and consultants’
reports will be accessible immediately, can be
typed up in the correct priority and would make
supplying information to GP’s enquiring about
their patients almost instantly.
The second major outcome was that I and my
colleagues – qualified medical secretaries –
would be able to actually do our proper jobs
supporting the department, the consultants and
our patients rather than being mostly a very
expensive typing pool.
I was aware of the complexity of the trust
I worked for and the almost Kafkaesque difficulties of front line staff actually getting their
hands on the cash to make changes – not to mention departmental support for the introduction
of change.
The answer came about purely by chance
when I heard about a new trust innovation
51
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
I sat in the audience and watched the
first three presentations. They were excellent;
Penny Searle, a Ward Manager, was asking the
“dragons” to part with £15,000 for “do not disturb” tabards for nurses across the Trust to wear
when doing drug and nutrition rounds; another
was asking for £5000 for some training equipment. After a short break the dragons went off to
deliberate the first three presentations and I was
taken to a room to wait until it was my turn.
Then it was my turn.
I walked confidently onto the stage – shaking
inside but determined not to show it – high heels
killing, and came face to face with “the dragons”. Jeff Buggle, Director of Finance; Chris
Farmer, Consultant Nephrologist and IT Guru;
and Steve Hams, Deputy Chief Nurse and Head
of Quality.
Fifteen minutes felt like five seconds and I suddenly found myself actually enjoying giving the
presentation, I went through all the points one by
one and included a demo of how digital dictation works. I explained the problems we
encountered on a regular basis; lost or broken
tapes, delay in receiving clinic tapes from other
sites, wasting consultants time re-dictating etc;
and how digital dictation could launch us into
the twenty-first century (eleven years late), save
money and improve patient care. I asked for
an investment of £9000 for a 100% stake in
my idea.
Then came the questions – twenty minutes’
worth to be precise. How did I get my figures?
Would it work alongside the Trust’s IT system?
Etc, etc. This was the scariest part, but I knew that
this was my big chance to make an important
change and I was determined to hold my own.
As the questions came one after another, I discovered that all my hard work was paying off
and I actually knew the answer to virtually every
question. I became more confident, managed to
stay calm and confident and left the stage with
the dragons smiling.
After the last presentation had been made we
were all invited to sit in the audience whilst the
dragons made their decisions. I kicked off my
shoes and waited with everything crossed.
We were all called up one by one onto stage.
It was an agonising wait and then at last they
called me onto the stage to tell me I would be
given everything I had asked for.
I was so delighted I jumped up and down
(much to the embarrassment of my long suffering
children) and then heels off, collected my cheque
in bare feet!
I’d recommend the feeling to anybody.
Women and Heart Attacks
(Myocardial Infarction)
ARTICLES
D
id you know that women rarely have
the same dramatic symptoms that men
have when experiencing heart attack?
You know, the sudden stabbing pain in the
chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest and
dropping to the floor that we see in films … Here
is the story of one woman’s experience with
a heart attack.
52
I had a heart attack at about 10:30pm with no
prior exertion; no prior emotional trauma that
one would suspect might’ve brought it on. I was
sitting all snug and warm on a cold evening, with
my cat purring in my lap, reading an interesting
story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, “Ah, this is the life; all cosy and warm with
my feet propped up…”
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
cardiologist and partner had already threaded
the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral
artery into the aorta and into my heart where
they installed two side-by-side stents to hold
open my right coronary artery.
I know it sounds like all my thinking and
actions at home must have taken at least 20 to
30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but
actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the
call, and the hospital is only minutes away from
my home, and the cardiologist was ready to go
to the operating theatre in his scrubs and
get going on restarting my heart (which had
stopped somewhere between my arrival and the
procedure) and installing the stents.
Why have I written all of this to you with so
much detail? Because I want all of you to know
what I learned first hand:
1. Be aware that some very different,
perhaps inexplicable things are happening
in your body – not necessarily the usual
men’s symptoms (until my sternum and
jaws got into the act). It is said that many
more women than men die of their first
(and last) MI because they didn’t know they
were having one. They commonly mistake
it as indigestion, take some anti-heartburn
preparation and go to bed, hoping they’ll
feel better in the morning when they wake
up … which doesn’t happen.
2. My female friends, your symptoms might
not be exactly like mine, so I advise you
to call an ambulance if there are sudden
severe symptoms you’ve not felt before.
It is better to have a false alarm than to
risk your life guessing what it might be!
3. Note that I said “call an ambulance.”
And if you can, take an aspirin. Ladies,
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
4. Do NOT try to drive yourself to the hospital –
you are a hazard to others on the road …
5. Do NOT have your panicked husband
who will be speeding and looking
anxiously at what’s happening with you
instead of the road.
6. Do NOT call your doctor – s/he doesn’t
know where you live; and if it’s at night you
won’t reach him anyway, and if it’s daytime,
you will be told to call an ambulance.
7. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack
because you have normal cholesterol
levels. High cholesterol can cause an MI,
especially if accompanied by high blood
pressure, but so does long-term stress.
8. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a
sound sleep.
9. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we
know the better chance we could survive.
ARTICLES
A moment later I felt that awful sensation of
indigestion, like when you’ve been in a hurry,
grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down
with a dash of water; and it feels like you’ve got
a golf ball going down the oesophagus – it is
most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t
have gulped it down so fast, so you drink a glass
of water to hasten its progress down to the
stomach. This was my initial sensation – the only
trouble was that I hadn’t taken a bite of anything
since about 5pm.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation
was like little squeezing motions that seemed
to be racing up my spine (in hindsight, it was
probably my aorta in spasm), gaining speed as
they continued racing up and under my sternum
(breast bone, where one presses rhythmically
when administering CPR).
This fascinating process continued on into
my throat and branched out into both jaws.
Aha! Now I stopped puzzling about what was
happening – I had read or heard about pain in
the jaws being one of the signals of a myocardial
infarction (MI) happening and I said aloud to
myself – and the cat – “dear God, I think I’m
having a heart attack!”
I lowered the footrest, dumping the cat from
my lap, and started to take a step – and fell on
the floor instead. I thought to myself, “if this is a
heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking into the next
room where the phone is or anywhere else … but,
on the other hand, if I don’t, nobody will know
that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may
not be able to get up in moment.”
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair,
walked slowly into the next room and dialled the
999 … I told her I thought I was having a heart
attack due to the pressure building under the
sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel
hysterical or afraid; I was just stating the facts.
She said she was sending the paramedics over
immediately, asked if the front door was near to
me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie
down on the floor where they could see me
when they came in.
I unlocked the door and then lay down on the
floor as instructed and lost consciousness. I don’t
remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into
their ambulance, or hearing the call they made
to A&E on the way. I did briefly awaken when we
arrived and saw that the cardiologist was already
there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the
medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance.
He was bending over me asking questions
(probably something like “have you taken any
medication?” but I couldn’t make my mind
interpret what he was saying, or form an answer,
and nodded off again. I didn’t wake up until the
53
Journal of Medical Secretaries and Administrators
How To Survive A Heart Attack
When Alone
Submitted by Malcolm Morrison
Let’s say it’s 6.15pm and you’re going home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on
the job.
You’re really tired, upset and frustrated.
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag out into your arm
and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home.
Unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR,
but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose
heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before
losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged,
as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help
arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep
the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.
In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about
this. It could save their lives!
ARTICLES
Pa ys
for
itsel
f in
mont
hs
Stop the waste with ‘PPM’ – Private Practice Manager
software and get complete administrative and financial control
Our easy-to-use software provides
these benefits and more:
UÊ ÕÊÃÕ««œÀÌÊqʘœÊµÕiÃ̈œ˜Ê̜œÊÌÀˆÛˆ>Ê
UÊ /i“«>ÌiÃÊÃiÌÊÕ«Ê̜ÊޜÕÀÊëiVˆwV>̈œ˜Ê
UÊ *Ài‡œ>`i`Ê
-Ê>˜`ÊÕ«>ÊVœ`iÃ]Ê
V>Ìi}œÀˆiÃÊ>˜`ÊviiÃ
UÊ ÕÊ>˜`Êëii`ÞÊÌÀ>ˆ˜ˆ˜}Ê>˜`ʈ˜ÃÌ>>̈œ˜
UÊ "«Ìˆœ˜>ÊÃiVÕÀiÊi‡“>ˆÊ>˜`ÊÌiÝÌʓiÃÃ>}ˆ˜}ÊÊ
UÊ "«Ìˆœ˜>Êˆ˜Ìi}À>̈œ˜Ê܈̅Ê/Ê­/…iÊ
œV̜ÀÃÊ>LœÀ>̜ÀÞ®!
54
For the consultant:
UÊ ,i`ÕViÃʏœÃÃiÃÊ`ÕiÊ̜ʈ˜ÛœˆVˆ˜}Ê
“ˆÃÌ>ŽiÃÊ>˜`Ê>}i`Ê`iL̜ÀÃÊÊ
UÊ *ÀœÛˆ`iÃÊ`iÌ>ˆi`ʓi`ˆV>Ê>˜>ÞÃiÃ
UÊ *>ÞÃÊvœÀʈÌÃivʈ˜Ê“œ˜Ì…Ã
For the secretary:
UÊ ->ÛiÃʅœÕÀÃʜvÊ>`“ˆ˜ˆÃÌÀ>̈œ˜Ê̈“i
UÊ ˆÛiÃÊ>VViÃÃÊ̜Ê`>Ì>ʈ˜ÊÃiVœ˜`Ã
UÊ *Àœ`ÕViÃÊÞi>À‡i˜`Êw˜>˜Vˆ>Ê>˜>ÞÈÃÊÊ
ˆ˜Ê“ˆ˜ÕÌiÃ
Ì\ÊÊ ä£™™ÓÊÈxxʙ{äÊ
“\ÊÊ äÇnÈäÊxÓxÊnΣÊ
i\Ê
̜“…Õ˜ÌJ««“ÜvÌÜ>Ài°Vœ“Ê
ÜÜܰ««“ÜvÌÜ>Ài°Vœ“
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM
Simply complete this membership form and send it with your method of payment to the address below.
FULL MEMBERSHIP IS JUST £14 PER YEAR
Membership is open to all medical secretaries, administrators, clerks and PAs.
We also welcome membership from doctors, consultants and other managers who wish to support
their secretarial and administrative staff.
All subscriptions are payable in Pounds Sterling. Memberships are due for renewal every 12 months from
the date of the initial application. Payment can be made annually by cheque, direct debit or online.
A direct debit form can be downloaded from the BSMSA website or is available on request from Anna Paton
(Office Manager) at the address below. Cheques should be made payable to BSMSA.
ABOUT YOU
Your name and title: ______________________________________________________________________
D.O.B.: ____________________________________ Home Address: _____________________________
County: ____________________________________ Postcode: __________________________________
Home Telephone: ____________________________ Home Email: ________________________________
Place of Work: __________________________________________________________________________
Specialty: ______________________________________________________________________________
Work Telephone: ____________________________ Work email: ________________________________
Position: ___________________________________ Grade/Band: ________________________________
Total length of service as a medical secretary: _____ ________________ NHS/Private/GP Practice (circle)
Date of this application: _______________________ Membership Number (BSMSA Office use): ________
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE SOCIETY?
Please tick one or more of the following boxes
Referral by another members (please give their name): _____________________________________
At a BSMSA meeting or event (please state where): _______________________________________
BSMSA journal: ____________________________________________________________________
BSMSA website: ___________________________________________________________________
Other website (please state which website): ______________________________________________
Press article (please state which newspaper, magazine, etc.): ________________________________
Any other source (please state): _______________________________________________________
Please send your completed form to Anna Paton, Office Manager
132 Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3AH. | Tel: 0131 466 0682 | Email: [email protected]
Registered Office: 27 Swallow Close, East Hunsbury, Northampton NN4 0QQL. Company Registration 7685056
Visit our website at: www.bsmsa.org.uk
This information is strictly confidential and will only be used in accordance with Data Protection Act 1998 in order to
update our membership database and send out BSMSA correspondence or related material.