Reception Lead

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Reception leadership and patient services standards

• Provide day-to-day leadership of the reception team, promoting a supportive, professional, and accountable culture.
• This role will require to help out on reception to cover sickness and holidays.
• Maintain reception standards, patient communications quality, and consistent application of practice processes.
• Lead and manage reception rotas, ensuring cover is planned, absence is managed appropriately, and capacity is aligned to expected demand.
• Ensure that patient-facing messages are clear and consistent across channels (telephone, AccuRx and in-person).
• Performance Manager

2. Patient access and workflow control

• Own the day-to-day operation of patient access processes, including telephone and AccuRx workflows.
• Monitor pressure points (for example peaks in demand, delays, backlogs) and coordinate timely actions to stabilise flow.
• Coordinate the handling of incoming requests to ensure appropriate routing and timely resolution.
• Work with clinical and admin colleagues to ensure handoffs are clear and avoid rework and chasing.

3. Operational coordination and action tracking

• Attend a weekly operational meeting with the Practice Manager and key non-clinical leads to allocate actions, unblock issues, and track delivery.
• Escalate risks early to the Practice Manager with options and recommendations.

4. Oversight of document workflow and backlogs

• Provide oversight of document workflow backlogs and handoffs across reception, admin and secretarial functions.
• Identify recurring failure points and agree practical fixes to improve reliability and reduce avoidable work.

5. Administration and Patient Communications

• Support consistent patient communications, including messages related to access, processes and service changes.

6. People development and induction

• Lead induction and training arrangements for reception and relevant admin processes, ensuring staff feel supported and clear on expectations.
• Identify training needs, support capability development, and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement.

7. Interfaces with other teams

• Manage operational interfaces with dispensary, secretarial, and finance/performance colleagues to ensure appropriate coordination and avoid disruption.
• Support clarity around when reception staff may be asked to support other functions, and ensure this is planned and controlled wherever possible.

8. Governance, compliance and improvement

• Support the Practice Manager with agreed operational governance processes where relevant (for example audits, incident learning, operational policies).
• Identify opportunities for improvement that make work easier, safer, and more reliable for staff and patients.

Role boundaries and expectations

• The post-holder is expected to be confident using digital tools and to understand how primary care workflows operate.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience in a patient-facing operational environment with competing demands and high levels of public contact.
• Experience of leading or supervising a team, including setting standards, giving feedback, and addressing performance issues.
• Experience of managing reception processes, access workflows, or similar front-door services.
• Previous experience in general practice or primary care.
• Familiarity with AccuRx and EMIS workflows.
• Basic HR administration experience (for example rota planning, sickness absence processes, induction
• This role will require to help on reception to cover sickness and holidays.

Desirable

• Experience supporting service improvement or operational change.

Qualifications

Essential

• A strong educational background is required for this role, such as GCSEs, a Diploma, a Degree, or a Professional Qualification

Desirable

• AMSPAR

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

Quantock Vale Surgery

Address

Mount Street

Bishops Lydeard

Taunton

Somerset

TA4 3LH

Employer's website

http://www.quantockvalesurgery.nhs.uk/welcome,29687.htm (Opens in a new tab)