Health records make sure that vital patient information is recorded and stored accurately so their frontline colleagues can access it at any time and at any place.
There are no set entry requirements for health records staff. 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. You may be able to enter through an apprenticeship. You will get the training you need to do the job and may be offered the chance to take qualifications from organisations such as AMSPAR, BSMSA and IHRIM
Health records staff in the NHS work standard hours of around 37.5 a week. Some may work shifts, which could involve early starts, evenings and weekends. NHS staff working in health records will usually be paid on the Agenda for Change pay system. In health records you could start on AfC band 2 and with further training and qualifications, progress to posts at AfC band 5 and higher. Health records staff outside of the NHS will have different terms and conditions of service.
To work in health records staff, you'll need to be accurate and methodical, able to work in a team but use your own initiative, willing to follow instructions and procedures, able to work with all types of people, be confident using the phone. You'll need good organisational, IT and customer service skills
With experience, you could become a team leader, coordinating the work of a team of health records staff. With further experience, you could become a manager, responsible for the work of a health records department. Some health records staff move into more specialist roles such as medical secretary or PA. Others move into areas such as finance or HR. You may also have the opportunity to move into informatics, specialising in electronic data, or into IT.
Related roles
Doctors in emergency medicine carry out the immediate assessment and treatment of patients with serious and life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
Training usually starts with a five year first degree in medicine. Then there's two years foundation doctor training, three years core training (CT1 – CT3), followed by three years specialists training (ST4 – ST6). This period of training will include your royal college exams. Run-through training from CT1/ST1-ST6 is also available and most trainees now choose that route. Length of training can vary according to your circumstances.
Doctors may work up to 48 hours a week. The working hours may sometimes extend beyond the normal working day to include early mornings, evenings, weekends and on call. The basic salary ranges from £29,384 to £34,012. Once you start your specialty training as an emergency medicine doctor employed by the NHS, you can expect to earn a salary of at least £40,257, which can increase to between £84,559 and £114,003 as a consultant.
You'll need excellent communication skills to manage a wide range of relationships with colleagues, and patients and their families. You'll be emotionally resilient, have excellent problem-solving and diagnostic skills and work well in teams and under pressure. You'll also be very organised for the benefit of patients.
In 2020 there were 863 applications for 348 emergency medicine specialty training posts. You could specialise and conduct research in areas such as paediatric emergency medicine and pre-hospital emergency medicine, study for a joint qualification with intensive care medicine, or teach medical or postgraduate students.