Nurses and doctors use medical assistants to handle their correspondence, make appointments with patients, and answer any questions patients or their family members may have. Medical assistants may also be known as medical secretaries or personal assistants
Although persons in this role may work in hospitals, primarily they work in doctor’s offices. Those who work for general practitioners handle enquiries about a number of different medical conditions, while those working for hospital consultants typically only handle enquires within specific departments such as cardiology or paediatrics.
Senior positions in this field involve overseeing a team of assistants, assigning work to them and making sure they have access to all of the equipment and materials they require. Little formal education is required to enter this field, but many medical assistants have previous secretarial experience or training. Extensive medical terminology knowledge is an asset in this field, where the average salary is between £14,223 and £31,520 per annum.