Health Records Staff work in many areas of the NHS and Social Care and ensure that service user information is kept updated and is accurate and is accessible to other healthcare professionals as and when they need to access it.
Working life
Working as a member of the Health Records team means that you are working with data and service user information on a regular basis. Every NHS and Social Care service user has a record or their medication needs, care needs and any treatment they have received, and it is vital that this information is kept up to date. Health records staff organising, update and store the service user records and these can be a physical record (written on paper) or stored electronically using a digital system. Sometimes a service users records are a mixture of both mediums.
All data regarding service users has to be kept securely and confidentially at all times. Storage systems must meet government and legal requirements for data protection to ensure safety of the documents.
Working in the Health Records team could mean that you work in:
- Acute hospital wards
- Specialist departments or clinics
- GP surgeries
- Health centres
- For NHS England
- At the head office of an NHS Trust
- Health records department
Another part of the health records role is to manage records that are due to be stored or that are no longer required, health records staff can also have other duties such as speaking to service users and professionals on the telephone or be based in a patient facing setting.
Your health records role may mean that you are patient facing and have a lot of interaction with service users but there are also health records roles based away from patients and service users where there is much less contact and you work within a team away from visible areas.
Requirements
Becoming a Health Records team member has no set entry requirements, but NHS and Social Care employers will expect good literacy, numeracy and IT skills as these are an important part of working in the health records team. Depending on the role, some employers may ask for GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. When applying for a role in the health records team, there may be other skills or qualifications required but this will depend on the role and the team in which the role sits.
Employers may require you to have some relevant work experience or knowledge of having worked in a similar role previously. If you are considering a role in the health records team, it is a good idea if you can demonstrate where you have previously worked or volunteered in an administration or customer service role.
Working as a health records team member will provide further opportunities to develop your career through apprenticeships and internal training and there are sometimes other ways to access employment in health records such as traineeships or internships depending on the Trust you work for.
Personal characteristics
To work successfully within the Health Records team, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail
- Be able to work as part of a team but also able to use your own initiative
- Be willing to follow procedures and take instruction from senior team members
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be confident taking phone calls and speaking to people you don’t know
Skills required
To work successfully as a Health Records team member, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Be able to successfully demonstrate a good level of IT knowledge
- Have positive customer service skills
Training and development opportunities
When you begin to work in the Health Records team, you will receive the training you require to be able to undertake the role successfully. You will receive an induction which will introduce you to the department you will be working in, will support you in accessing the IT systems and will ensure you are aware of the policies and procedures you will be required to following in the undertaking of your role. You will also have to complete any statutory and mandatory training that your employer requires such as fire training, data security training and customer service.
Depending on the healthcare setting you work for, you may be able to take additional vocational qualifications to support you to develop your knowledge and skills. These could include:
- Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists (AMSPAR)
- Institute of Health Records and Information Management (IHRIM)
Once achieved, you could become a full member of either AMSPAR or IHRIM who offer further development opportunities, email updates and networking opportunities so that you are able to continue to learn from others who work in the same role as you.
Career development opportunities
Once you have experience of working within the Health Records team, there are many other roles you could progress into. You could lead a team, become a supervisor or develop your career into management. You could also transfer into other specialist healthcare roles such as becoming a medical secretary, working in human resources or as part of the finance team. There are also other opportunities to diversify into clinical coding or informatics, joining the digital team or working within an education or training team.
Pay and benefits
Health Records staff usually work around 37.5 hours per week. Depending on the role and the setting you work in, you may be required to work shifts, nights, evenings or weekends.
Administrators in the NHS are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and Health Records staff will typically start their career on AfC band 2 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, can progress further up the pay scale.
Health Records Administrators working for Social Care settings will be paid according to the employer they work for and the renumeration for the role should always be shown on their job advert.
Other benefits of working within Health Records include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.