How to become a medical secretaries

Official title: Medical secretaries

Also called: Secretary, Medical secretary, Clinical secretary, Doctor's secretary, Hospital secretary, Medical administrator, Medical notes summariser, Admin clerk, Clerical worker, Clerical officer, Clinic coordinator, Clinic administrator

Medical secretaries deal with correspondence, make appointments and handle patients’ queries file and maintain medical and other records transcribe notes and dictation and perform other clerical tasks in hospitals/surgeries and other medical establishments.

Main tasks

• Sorts and files correspondence and maintains diary of the person/s for whom they work
• Transcribes dictation into required format
• Maintains patients’ records and arranges appointments
• Answers enquiries and refers patient to appropriate experts
• Organises and attends meetings and takes minutes of proceedings
• Books resources such as rooms and refreshments, and orders stationery and other supplies as appropriate

How to become one

Entrants require GCSEs/S grades or an Intermediate GNVQ/GSVQ level II. Professional qualifications as a medical secretary are available entrants take a one year full-time or two year part-time diploma in medical secretarial studies. NVQs/SVQs in Administration are available at levels 2, 3 and 4.

Pay · Outlook

• Median full-time pay: £26,958 a year The middle half earn £24,938 to £30,436.
• About 87,000 people work in this job now, and about 70,100 are projected by 2035. (-19.4%)

Related jobs

• Personal assistants and other secretaries
• Legal secretaries
• School secretaries
• Company secretaries and administrators
• Receptionists
• Typists and related keyboard occupations

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Questions people ask

How do I become a medical secretaries?

Entrants require GCSEs/S grades or an Intermediate GNVQ/GSVQ level II. Professional qualifications as a medical secretary are available entrants take a one year full-time or two year part-time diploma in medical secretarial studies. NVQs/SVQs in Administration are available at levels 2, 3 and 4.

How much does a medical secretaries earn in the UK?

Median full-time pay is £26,958 a year (Office for National Statistics). The middle half earn £24,938 to £30,436.

Is a medical secretaries a growing career in the UK?

Employment is projected to fall 19% by 2035, from about 87,000 to about 70,100 people (Department for Education).

Do you need a degree to become a medical secretaries?

Usually not. Only 21% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Sources

• Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
• Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
• Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
• Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03

Updated 2026-10-03