Medical records and health records jobs

Health records jobs in the NHS are entry-level admin roles looking after patient notes: finding, filing, preparing and moving records so they are in the right place for clinics and admissions, and increasingly scanning them into an electronic system. Most posts in England are on Agenda for Change band 2 (£25,272 from 1 April 2026) or band 3 (£25,760 to £27,476). Supervisors and team leaders move up to band 4.

Job titles you will see

The same work is advertised under several names: health records assistant, medical records clerk, records officer, scanning and indexing clerk, outpatient records clerk, or library assistant in older trusts. Band 2 posts are mostly the hands-on retrieval, filing and scanning jobs. Band 3 posts add more responsibility, such as handling queries from clinical teams, preparing notes for clinic lists, checking records for completeness or training new starters.

GP practices also employ records staff, often as part of a reception or admin team. Practices set their own pay, so the national bands do not apply automatically there.

What the work involves

In a hospital with paper or mixed records the day often runs like this:

1. Pull notes for the next day’s outpatient clinics and theatre lists.
2. Track every set of notes on the patient administration system so anyone can see where they are.
3. File loose correspondence, results and letters into the right volume.
4. Fetch urgent notes for emergency admissions, sometimes across a large site.
5. Return and re-shelve notes after use, and archive or destroy them under the retention schedule.

In trusts that have gone electronic, the work moves to prepping, scanning, indexing and quality-checking documents so they appear in the right place in the electronic record. Errors here can put a letter in the wrong patient’s record, which is a serious incident.

Some health records teams also process subject access requests, where patients or their solicitors ask for copies of records, and requests from police, courts or insurers. That work needs a good understanding of data protection rules and is usually done at band 3 or band 4.

It is physical work in many trusts: pushing trolleys, lifting boxes of notes and spending time on your feet in basement libraries. Some sites run evening and weekend shifts so notes are ready for the morning.

Pay

From 1 April 2026 in England, band 2 has a single pay point of £25,272. Band 3 starts at £25,760 and moves to £27,476 after two years. These rates include the 3.3 per cent award for 2026/27. Band 1 and both band 2 points first received a temporary National Living Wage adjustment, which the award then replaced.

Talks between the NHS Staff Council and the government on reforming the lowest bands were still going on in October 2026. If a deal is reached, backdating to 1 April 2026 will apply, so band 2 and 3 pay may change during the year. The NHS pay award 2026 page tracks this.

In Scotland, band 2 runs from £26,658 to £28,947 and band 3 from £29,061 to £31,364 for 2026/27, noticeably more than in England. London posts add the high cost area supplement.

On these salaries the NHS Pension Scheme contribution rate is 6.5 per cent. Use the take-home pay calculator to see your monthly pay after tax, NI and pension.

What employers look for

No degree and usually no specific qualification is needed. Typical person specifications ask for:

• a reasonable standard of English and maths, sometimes GCSEs or equivalent
• accurate data entry and basic IT skills
• an understanding of confidentiality
• the ability to work to deadlines and as part of a team

Previous admin, retail stock or warehouse experience is relevant, because much of the job is about accuracy, tracking and physical organisation. At interview, expect questions on confidentiality (what you would do if a friend asked about a patient), on prioritising urgent requests, and on attention to detail. The NHS supporting statement guide is worth reading before you apply.

Confidentiality and the rules you work under

Health records staff handle sensitive information all day, so training in data protection and information governance starts in your first week and is repeated every year as part of mandatory training. Looking at a record without a work reason, including your own, a relative’s or a neighbour’s, is treated as a serious disciplinary matter in every trust and can lead to dismissal.

Records must be kept for set periods under the NHS records retention schedule, which varies by type of record, and destroyed securely afterwards. Patients have a right to see their records, and requests have to be answered within legal deadlines, which is why access-request work is closely monitored. If you want to understand what your employer expects before you start, the mandatory training guide covers the usual modules.

Where it leads

Health records is a common first NHS job. People move from band 2 into band 3 supervisory or access-request roles, then into band 4 team leader or records manager posts. Others transfer into clinical coding, outpatient booking, ward administration or medical secretary work. Knowing how records are organised gives you a head start in any of those.

Search for vacancies on NHS Jobs under “health records” as well as “medical records”, and in Scotland on the NHS Scotland jobs site.