Clerks are the engine that keeps the NHS running successfully. They make sure patients have the information they need for their care and support healthcare professionals to access crucial patient records.
Working environment
You'll support our patients and clinical staff, such as surgeons, GPs and nurses. You'll work in areas such as :
hospital wards
specialist departments or clinics, including cancer centres or accident and emergency units
GP surgeries and health centres
the headquarters of an NHS trust
health records department
Depending on where you work, you could be :
booking patients in for appointments or their transport to and from hospital
chasing up reports
inputting patient data
the first point of patient contact by answering the phone or emails
You may spend your time on a particular type of work and your job title may reflect this. For example :
clerk/typist
reception clerk/receptionist
clinical coding clerk
admissions clerk
ward clerk
clinic clerk
Your role could mean a lot of contact with patients, their relatives, carers and healthcare professionals. Alternatively, if you work in health records departments or headquarters, there'll be very little public contact.
Entry requirements, skills and interests
There are no set entry requirements to become a clerk. Employers usually expect good literacy, numeracy and IT skills. They may ask for GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. For some jobs, employers may ask for other skills or qualifications such as word processing or data entry.
Employers often ask for relevant work experience. Even where this is not specified, it would be an advantage if you have worked in an admin or customer service role.
There are often opportunities to enter administrative roles in the NHS and other areas of healthcare, through an apprenticeship or traineeship.
Personal characteristics
You need to be :
accurate and methodical
able to work in a team but use their own initiative
willing to follow instructions and procedures
able to work with all types of people
confident using the phone
Skills required :
organisation skills
good communication skills
IT skills
customer service skills
Pay and conditions
Administrative staff in the NHS are paid on the agenda for change (afc) pay system. For this type of role your expected pay band would be 2. With experience and/or an AMSPAR qualification you could progress to band 3 or 4. This could include progression to supervisory and managerial posts at higher pay bands. Terms and conditions will differ for health organisation outside of the NHS. This could include general practice and pharmacies. Standard hours are generally 37.5 paid hours for a full-time contract. Flexible hours and part-time work are generally available. Depending on the employing organisation, the role could include early starts, weekends and evenings.
Pay examples (hourly rate) :
From 1st April 2020
National Living Wage Adult £8.72
21-24 £8.20
18-20 £6.45
16-17 £4.55
Apprentice £4.15
Living Wage Foundation
Uk Rate £9.50
London £10.85
Band 2 <1 year £9.21 rising to £9.89
Band 3 <1 year £10.09 rising to £10.81
Band 4 <1 Year £11.19 rising to £12.35
Training, development and career progression
Where the role can lead :
With experience, you could become a team leader, coordinating the work of a team of clerks. With further experience, you could become a manager, responsible for the staff in the department.
You could move into specialist roles such as a medical secretary, finance or HR. You may also have the opportunity to move into informatics, specialising in electronic data, or into IT.
Your employing organisation will get the training you need to do the job. This includes an induction or introduction to the department/organisation, how to use the IT and phone equipment and the procedures to follow. You may also have training in customer care.
You may be offered the chance to take qualifications such as our AMSPAR accredited courses. These are nationally recognised by the NHS and other health organisations.
AMSPAR accredited/approved qualifications
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