Health records clerk

You would keep patients' medical records up to date. You’d make sure that their information is available to doctors and medical staff when they are treating a person.

You’d also keep records of the communications between health professionals about a patient’s treatment.

You would:

• Greet patients, book appointments and deal with enquiries from GPs (general practioners)

• Find and check patient records on the computer system

• Create new records and update existing ones

• File records

• Transfer information from paper records into the computer system

• Send test samples to laboratories

• Update patients’ records with test results and letters

• Record illnesses and treatments using a system of codes, known as clinical coding

You would keep a record of all patient admissions, transfers, discharges and deaths. You’d collect statistics such as the number of admissions, discharges and the length of waiting lists.

You might carry out all of these tasks or you could specialise in one area such as filing, admissions or clinical coding.

Respect for confidentiality is very important in this job as you will have access to personal information about people.

You’d also need to be sensitive and tactful in dealing with patient and their relatives, who may be anxious or upset.

You can see more about this role on the Health records staff page on the NHS Careers website.

• NHS Education for Scotland – Training for the healthcare workforce including higher education and professional development