Pictured: L-R: Richard Hoy, Neerja Wadhwa, Cecile Roma, Gemma Draper, Jo Cruise, Kimm Scholes, Kate Gaywood, Mamta Sharma, Diane Gillings
Important medical support role - Junior Doctors Assistant - initiative at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital
It’s been over 20 years since the first Medical Support Workers were employed at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals to assist Junior Doctors. The role was created in order to aid Junior Doctors of some of their administrative duties and enable them to spend more time on the wards ensuring that patients are seen quickly and that follow up care is organised efficiently.
Ashford and St Peter’s were one of the first Trusts to introduce this and created the role of Medical Support Worker, recruiting three members of staff to trial this initiative for one year. It was so successful that after the initial trial that further Medical Support Workers were employed and other Trusts began to introduce the role. More recently, the name of this vital support function has changed to ‘Junior Doctors Assistant’ to better reflect the role.
In addition to supporting with admin based tasks, the assistants also help with a number of healthcare elements and are involved with the discharge process ensuring that patients can leave the hospital as soon as they are able to do so.
The importance of this role is further supported by Ashford and St Peter’s Medical Director Dr. David Fluck who says; “The Junior Doctors Assistants are valuable members of the team and enable our Junior Doctors to deliver more direct clinical care to our patients. We are very grateful for the support they provide.”