Job responsibilities
Call Handling & Reception Service
1. Answer inbound telephone calls promptly, and in a polite and friendly manner.
2. Respond appropriately to queries, using all available information sources to provide a response.
3. Proactively provide relevant and helpful information to patients and colleagues.
4. Where a query cannot be resolved, redirect the call to an appropriate contact who will be able to assist.
5. Make outbound calls as required to patients, GPs and referrers.
6. Ensure a polite, smooth and efficient service is offered the departmental reception area, receiving patients at the desk and advising them as required.
7. Operation of the Trusts electronic health record which will include booking of arrivals and negotiating suitable appointment arrangements with patients.
8. Monitoring and managing the reception waiting area to ensure that patients are seen in a timely manner and within a safe environment.
Referrals and Pathway Administration
1. Receive new referrals and check hospital data systems to see if the patient has been previously registered with a hospital number.
2. Register all patients who do not already have a hospital number, ensuring clear and accurate information is entered onto the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and that no duplicate records are created.
3. Record and capture patient information appropriately and in line with Standard Operating Procedures.
4. Ensure patient demographics are correct by checking with the patient at every encounter, highlighting any duplicate records and escalating to the supervisor.
5. Screen referrals and allocate the referral to the appropriate team, escalating when it is unclear which specialty is appropriate.
6. Use electronic patient information systems to scan, attach referrals, and create and action workqueues.
7. Support the management of key workqueues to address data quality issues, managing patient activities (e.g. appointment bookings) and other administrative tasks.
8. To ensure that no patient is 'lost to follow up' and that all patients are appropriately managed on a waiting list within the electronic health record.
9. Input clinical correspondence onto hospital databases.
10. Sending correspondence to patients, GPs, or others involved in the care of a patient, in a timely manner.
11. Review triaging information from consultants and action the required next steps, communicating a consultants decision not to treat or to accept the referral back to a patient, ensuring documentation is sent to the referrer and patient with the referrer and patient, as required.
12. Contact referrers to clarify the information provided in referrals if this is unclear or incomplete.
13. To action Advice and Guidance (A&G) requests on the e-RS system with responses from the clinical team, escalating where required.
14. Manage the e-RS (e-Referrals System) worklists to ensure ASIs (appointment slot issues) and referrals are appropriately managed, escalating where required.
15. Use tact, negotiation and persuasion to ensure that referrals are triaged by the clinical team in a timely fashion, and follow up with clinicians where referrals are not triaged in the expected time frame, escalating where support is required.
16. Support with the preparation of information for MDT meetings.
17. Provide administrative support for multi-disciplinary team meetings as required, including the recording and actioning of outcomes following the meetings, ensuring that this information is correct, complete and saved to the patients electronic health record.
18. Dispose of paper referral documentation in line with the Trusts Information Governance policy.
19. Identify private and overseas patients and escalate to ensure the correct process is followed.
Appointment Bookings
1. Responsible for the administrative work within a designated specialty or department.
2. Book and reschedule new, follow up and diagnostic appointments, in line with the Trusts Access Policy and Cancer Waiting Times Operational Policy.
3. Ensure patient pathway status is identified and proactively monitor the pathway to ensure that all elements of patient care are scheduled in line with regulatory access targets (e.g. RTT referral to treatment targets, DM01 6 week diagnostic target and various cancer targets) and as set out in the Trusts Access and Cancer Waiting Times Operational policies.
4. To review the patient tracking list (PTL), participate in PTL meetings and identify potential delays or issues with a patient pathway or potential breaches, and take preventative steps to avoid these, i.e. chasing diagnostic tests, results of tests.
5. Generate appointment letters for patients and sending relevant information or preparation to patients in advance of their appointment. This may include the transcription and typing of tapes/notes.
6. Ensure adequate preparation for clinics or admissions, receive and collate reports of investigations such as blood tests and x-rays, and preparing information for clinical teams before the next clinical appointment of the patient.
7. Responsible for identifying vacant slots and filling them, to ensure maximum clinic and theatre list utilisation.
8. Ensure patient who have experienced cancellations are allocated new dates within the specified time limits.
Communication and Liaison
1. Manage and answer telephone calls related to the service in a courteous and prompt manner.
2. Provide reassurance for patients who may be anxious or unclear about their appointment or referral.
3. Ensure both verbal and written communication is clear and accessible to patients and visitors.
4. Where possible, use empathy and understanding to resolve issues for patients, and prevent conflict arising.
5. Contact patients as required, for example to remind them of their appointment, or when there are short notice cancellations.
6. Generate and send patient letters and information leaflets as appropriate, ensuring that the information distributed to patients is accurate and current.
7. Produce accurate correspondence for patients, GPs and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to stakeholders, meeting relevant Trust KPIs e.g. clinic letter turnaround. This may include the transcription and typing of tapes/notes. Correspondence for clinically urgent and cancer MDT outcomes should be prioritised.
8. Using hospital information systems, produce accurate correspondence for patients, GPs and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to stakeholders, meeting relevant Trust KPIs e.g. clinic letter turnaround.
9. Respond to email & in-basket queries from patients and colleagues promptly
10. Arrange for an interpreter where required.
11. Respond to queries from referrers and resolve their queries where possible, escalating to colleagues as required.
12. Escalate more complex queries, providing reassurance, an expected response time, and further contact details as appropriate.
13. Support patients to register for the patient portal.
General responsibilities
1. Maintain patient confidentiality at all times adhere to the Trust Data Protection, GDPR and Confidentiality Policy.
2. Maintain adequate stock levels for the department, using Trust systems to procure required items.
3. Handle incoming and outgoing mail in a timely manner.
4. Scan documents and save the files promptly and accurately on to the patient electronic health record.
5. Ensure office protocols are adhered to, for example telephone answering times and voicemail or mailbox cover.
6. Report any faults with equipment or the environment to the relevant department promptly, and as appropriate.
7. Assist volunteers in the department.
8. Adhere to the Trusts Dress Code policy, and ensure a smart and professional appearance at all times.
9. Work flexibly to ensure consistent administrative cover across the departments/Units as requested by the supervisor, including covering colleagues or periods of absence where appropriate and within the scope of capabilities.
10. Assist with the induction and orientation of new staff in the department, showing colleagues how to complete tasks associated with the role.
11. Responsible for ensuring an efficient administrative service is provided, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The job description is not intended to be exhaustive and it is likely that duties may be altered from time to time in the light of changing circumstances and after consultation with the post holder.
