GP Receptionist (Maternity Cover)

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities:

Ensure an effective and efficient reception service is provided to patients and any other visitors to the practice. Acknowledge a patients arrival at the desk within 2/3 minutes of arriving, if the situation is unmanageable at the time due to the amount of patients waiting then advise the patients in the queue you will be with them as soon as possible and call for assistance.

Deal with all general enquiries, explain procedures and make new and follow-up appointments. This requires a helpful attitude even when experiencing negative, unresponsive and sometimes verbally abusive behaviour from patients. Never lose your temper with patients; refer to your line manager if you feel unable to help.

Communicate test results using taught skills and ensuring accuracy

Explain practice arrangements and formal requirements to new patients and those seeking temporary cover and ensure procedures are completed.

Receive and make telephone calls as required. Phones must be answered within 3 rings and no more. Divert calls and take messages, ensuring accuracy of detail and prompt appropriate delivery. Be polite and helpful at ALL times. If a patients behaviorbecomes unacceptably abusive refer the call to your line manager. Do not shout or respond in a rude manner to the patient.

Ensure that you provide an efficient, professional and detailed handover to the member of staff taking over from you before you leave your duty.

Enter requests for home visits on the telephone consultation list ensuring careful recording of all relevant details and where necessary refer to Duty Doctor.

• Opening up/locking-up of practice premises and maintaining security in accordance with Practice protocols

Open up premises at the start of the day when first to arrive, de-activate alarm and make all necessary preparations to receive patients.

• Ensure all emails, appointments etc. are read and actioned
• Maintaining and monitoring the practice appointments system, e.g. cancelling appointments or booking locums etc.
• Processing personal and telephone requests for appointments, visits and telephone consultations and ensuring callers are directed to the appropriate healthcare professional
• Using your own judgment and communication skills ensure that patients with no prior appointment but who need urgent consultation are seen in a logical and non-disruptive manner
• Enter requests for home visits into the visit book, ensuring careful recording of all relevant details and where necessary refer to Duty Doctor
• Advice patients of relevant charges for private (non General Medical Services) services, accept payment and issue receipts for same.
• Dealing with petty cash and transactions an
• Dealing with tasks sent on Systmone, contacting or sending out letters to patients as requested by the doctor
• Making sure to be aware of room allocation for each clinician on a daily basis and dealing with allocation in absence of the reception manager
• Taking messages and passing on information on manually and systmone. Preferably all tasks or messages should be sent electronically as there is a trail.
• Computer data entry/data allocation and collation; processing and recording information in accordance with practice procedures
• Patient notes and correspondence:

Retrieve and re-file records as required, ensuring practice policy followed.

Ensure correspondence, reports, results are scanned or filed promptly as necessary in the correct records, ensuring that all recent correspondence is available when patients are seen.

Ensure records are kept in good repair with all necessary information on the outside cover clearly visible.

• Ensure that all new patient registration paperwork is completed correctly and processed correctly
• Dealing with GP links registrations, amendments and deductions when allocated
• Dealing with insurance and medical reports requests when allocated
• To deal with any complaints on contact before passing onto to the reception manager
• Initiating contact with and responding to requests from patients, other team member and associated healthcare agencies and providers
• Allocated tasks to taken care on a weekly basis
• Promoting the Friends and Family survey this is mandatory
• Clearing and re-stock consulting rooms as required
• Providing clerical assistance to practice staff as required from time to time, including word/data processing, filing, photocopying and scanning
• Ordering, re-ordering and monitoring of stationery and other supplies when required
• Keeping the reception area, notice-boards and leaflet dispensers tidy and free from obstructions and clutter
• Undertake any other additional duties appropriate and cover staff absences when required to the post, as requested by the Partners or the Practice Manager. Your employment is subject to change as and when required.

Confidentiality:

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & safety:

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice health & safety policy, the practice health & safety manual, and the practice infection control policy and published procedures. This will include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
• Actively reporting of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, assisting in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope of the job holders role
• Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually)
• Reporting potential risks identified

Equality and diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
• Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal/professional development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources
• Communication:

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly

Contribution to the implementation of services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work

- Full job description on selection of an interview

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• GCSE grade A to C English and Maths , NVQ level 2 or more in administration IT skills

Desirable

• Qualified to NVQ level 3 or more

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Queens Walk Practice

Address

6 Queens Walk

London

W5 1TP

Employer's website

https://www.queenswalkpractice.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)