jobfacts

Medical secretary

Medical secretaries — SOC 2020 4211

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.

Also calledMedical personal assistantClerkSecretaryMedical administratorDoctor's secretaryGP surgery administratorand 11 more titles
Typical full-time pay£27,0002025 Provisional
People in the job63,000across the UK
Demand for workersNot high
New adverts a month624↓ 15%on last year · 242nd of 412

Pay

ONS · ASHE 2025

Half of full-time medical secretaries earn between £24,900 and £30,400 a year.

What full-time medical secretaries earn, 2025
£27,000 typical£22,700lowest 10%£24,90025%£31,100top 20%n/ptop 10%
Middle half (£24,900–£30,400)n/p: top 10% not published by ONS
Show as table
Lowest 10% earn less than£22,700
Lowest 20% earn less than£24,100
25%£24,900
Median£27,000
75%£30,400
Top 20% earn more than£31,100
Top 10% earn more thanNot published
Typical pay by regionUK median £27,000
London!£32,000
Wales!£29,200
East of England!£28,300
Scotland!£28,100
South East£27,300
West Midlands£26,800
North West£26,500
Yorkshire and The Humber!£26,300
East Midlands!£25,600
South West!£25,500
North East!£24,800
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
UK median, £27,000
London£32,000 (small sample)
Wales£29,200 (small sample)
East of England£28,300 (small sample)
Scotland£28,100 (small sample)
South East£27,300
West Midlands£26,800
North West£26,500
Yorkshire and The Humber£26,300 (small sample)
East Midlands£25,600 (small sample)
South West£25,500 (small sample)
North East£24,800 (small sample)
Typical pay over 3 years
  • 2023 £24,900
  • 2024 £26,500
  • 2025 Provisional£27,000
↑ 8.4% since 2023Provisional figures are revised when ONS publishes the next year’s survey.

Jobs and demand

ONS · Textkernel adverts · DfE

About 624 jobs for medical secretaries are advertised each month. The Department for Education rates demand for workers as not high.

New job adverts a month, Jan 2017 to Aug 2026
New advertsMonth not published by ONS (2 in all)
Show as table
Aug 2026588
Jul 2026598
Jun 2026Not published
May 2026634
Apr 2026655
Mar 2026Not published
Feb 2026706
Jan 2026587
Dec 2025362
Nov 2025698
Oct 2025693
Sept 2025718
Aug 2025654
Jul 2025640
Jun 2025657
May 2025764
Apr 2025622
Mar 2025731
Feb 2025747
Jan 2025777
Dec 2024632
Nov 2024749
Oct 2024887
Sept 2024892
Aug 2024970
Jul 20241,098
Jun 20241,020
May 20241,074
Apr 20241,021
Mar 2024878
Feb 2024914
Jan 20241,073
Dec 2023813
Nov 2023911
Oct 2023861
Sept 2023861
Aug 20231,033
Jul 20231,122
Jun 20231,257
May 20231,317
Apr 20231,084
Mar 20231,286
Feb 20231,230
Jan 20231,279
Dec 20221,081
Nov 20221,379
Oct 20221,520
Sept 20221,444
Aug 20221,482
Jul 20221,599
Jun 20221,484
May 20221,507
Apr 20221,346
Mar 20221,584
Feb 20221,309
Jan 20221,427
Dec 20211,207
Nov 20211,300
Oct 20211,358
Sept 20211,181
Aug 20211,064
Jul 20211,238
Jun 2021946
May 2021935
Apr 2021754
Mar 20211,134
Feb 2021847
Jan 2021713
Dec 2020734
Nov 2020714
Oct 2020866
Sept 2020697
Aug 2020672
Jul 2020610
Jun 2020492
May 2020366
Apr 2020395
Mar 2020724
Feb 2020881
Jan 2020908
Dec 2019705
Nov 2019843
Oct 2019897
Sept 2019738
Aug 2019810
Jul 2019957
Jun 2019900
May 2019941
Apr 2019703
Mar 2019818
Feb 2019702
Jan 2019883
Dec 2018510
Nov 2018844
Oct 2018877
Sept 2018806
Aug 2018791
Jul 2018764
Jun 2018804
May 2018722
Apr 2018573
Mar 2018766
Feb 2018614
Jan 2018741
Dec 2017535
Nov 2017712
Oct 2017685
Sept 2017690
Aug 2017688
Jul 2017721
Jun 2017794
May 2017750
Apr 2017767
Mar 2017829
Feb 2017731
Jan 2017838
Is there a shortage of medical secretaries?
Not high

The Department for Education rates demand as not high, elevated or critical, using five indicators. This is its 2025 assessment.

  • Visas grantedUsual
  • Online job advertsUsual
  • Wage growthAbove usual
  • Pay against similar jobsUsual
  • Hours workedUsual
Note: uncertain in multiple indicators: change in hourly wage, visa density.
Vacancies hard to fill because of skills
14%against 27% for all jobs
Broader groupFigure for secretarial and related occupations, which includes medical secretaries. DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024.
Where the most jobs are advertisedadverts a quarter
London250
Birmingham62
Leeds33
Manchester29
Bristol, City of27
North Yorkshire24
Sheffield22
Bradford21
Nottingham21
Brighton and Hove20
London is published as one area. Averages leave out quarters ONS withheld.
Where medical secretaries are most concentratedShare of local job adverts, compared with the UK.

Recruitment from abroad. Fewer than 10 sponsored work visas were granted for this job from July 2025 to June 2026. Home Office

Who does it

ONS · Annual Population Survey · April 2025 to March 2026
Age of medical secretaries
6.3%!
18%!
18%!
23%!
24%!
11%!
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
16–246.3% (small sample)
25–3418% (small sample)
35–4418% (small sample)
45–5423% (small sample)
55–6424% (small sample)
65+11% (small sample)
Highest qualification
Degree or equivalent21%
Higher education below degree!6.5%
A levels or equivalent31%
GCSEs or equivalent30%
Other qualifications!2.7%
No qualifications!5%
!Small sample: treat with caution
Show as table
Degree or equivalent21%
Higher education below degree6.5% (small sample)
A levels or equivalent31%
GCSEs or equivalent30%
Other qualifications2.7% (small sample)
No qualifications5% (small sample)

Main employers: hospital activities (37%), regulation of the activities of providing health care, education, cultural services and other social services, excluding social security (27%), general medical practice activities (15%), other human health activities (14%).

How to get in

Hold a degree
21%
as their highest qualification
Most common qualification
A levels or equivalent
held by 31%
Apprenticeships
None
none leads directly into this work

Routes in

You can get into this job through:

College

You could do a college course, which would teach you some of the skills and knowledge you need in this job.

Relevant subjects include:

  • medical administration
  • medical terminology
  • T level in Management and Administration
Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for a T Level

Apprenticeship

You could apply to do an Administration Assistant Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship, or Business Administrator Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.

These usually take between 1 and 2 years to complete and combine workplace learning with study.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship

Other ways in

Work your way up

If you work in a healthcare setting, for instance, as a receptionist or admin assistant, you may be able to move into a medical secretary role if you take a relevant qualification while you're working.

The Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists (AMSPAR) and the British Society of Medical Secretaries and Administrators (BSMSA) offer qualifications, such as:

  • Level 2 Certificate and Diploma in Medical Administration
  • Certificate in Medical Terminology
Apply directly

If you want to apply directly for jobs, employers will expect you to have some GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English.

You'll find it useful to have a qualification or experience in audio typing along with excellent IT skills. Some organisations may also want you to have knowledge of medical terminology.

Registration and professional bodies

Career tips

To get a job as a medical secretary, you'll need experience of working in an office, ideally in a secretarial role. Temporary work can be a good way of getting this experience.

You would be expected to have an understanding of how the NHS values would apply in your work.

Further information

You can find out more about medical secretarial careers from Health Careers.

Routes in are from the National Careers Service job profile for medical secretary. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The work

ONS · ESCO · O*NET

Typical 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

Skills

  • answer patients' questions
  • apply organisational techniques
  • collect healthcare user's general data
  • comply with legislation related to health care
  • maintain healthcare user data confidentiality
  • work in multidisciplinary health teams
  • identify patients' medical records
  • manage budgets
  • use electronic health records management system
  • handle paperwork
  • manage accounts
  • manage healthcare users' data
  • work in a multicultural environment in health care
  • accept own accountability

Knowledge

  • administrative tasks in a medical environment
  • medical informatics
  • medical terminology
  • professional documentation in health care
  • health records management
  • business law
  • business management principles
  • chiropractic terminology

Suits people who like

  • Organising and following procedures
  • Helping and caring for people

Outlook

DfE · Skills Imperative 2035
Broader groupThese projections are for secretarial and related occupations, a group of 7 jobs that includes medical secretaries.
Change in jobs, 2020 to 2035↓ 16%about 105,000 fewer jobs
Workers needed by 2035243,000including people replacing those who retire or leave

Sources

Pay
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 provisional
People in the job, who does it
ONS, Annual Population Survey, April 2025 to March 2026
Job adverts
ONS, online job adverts (Textkernel), to Aug 2026
Demand, skill shortages
Department for Education and Skills England, Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey
Outlook
The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE
Routes in
National Careers Service job profiles
Apprenticeships, qualifications
Skills England occupational maps
Skills, interests
ESCO classification of the European Commission; O*NET data, U.S. Department of Labor (CC BY 4.0, modified)
Visas
Home Office, immigration system statistics

Figures as of 10 October 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Occupations in demand and the Employer Skills Survey: Department for Education and Skills England. Immigration system statistics: Home Office. Contains public sector information from the National Careers Service licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

© Skills England 2025. This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Source: The Skills Imperative 2035 (2024), NFER/Nuffield/DfE/IER/CE.

This service uses the ESCO classification of the European Commission.

This service includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This service has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. CC BY 4.0 licence.

jobfacts is independent. It is not part of, affiliated with or endorsed by the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Education, Skills England, the National Careers Service, the Home Office, the European Commission or the U.S. Department of Labor.