Job summary
We are looking for an experienced and/or qualified Clinical Coders with extensive across speciality knowledge of at least four years within an acute Trust who can hit the ground pretty much running. You will need to feel at ease working in a truly flexible manner able to feel comfortable working with paper and electronic records as we move through the hybrid stage towards a full EPR due November 2023. A lot of the working will be carried out remotely from your home base with occasional need to come on site.
As a trained and/or qualified coder you will know the Clinical Coding Department is responsible for ensuring that all in-patient activity entered on the Trust's Patient Administration System is accurately clinically coded within the set national timeframes. Primarily in order to ensure the Trust is able to operate fully to achieve the overall income from clinical contracts which equates to approximately £130m per annum.
Also the accurate and timely coded activity will support all other requirements both within the Trust and Nationally such as analytical and epidemiological studies, NHS Financial Planning, and to enable the monitoring of health trends and provision of patient care.
The team is long established and we do not have a high turn over of staff so you will be joining a knowledgeable small friendly team.
As an ACC qualified coder you will entitled too a recruitment and retention premia of 20% fixed after first payment paid monthly.
NO AGENCIES
Main duties of the job
All National and local Clinical Coding Standards and Policies must be adhered to whilst carrying out Clinical Coding.
The post holders will be responsible for liaising with the clinicians discussing as and when required communicating complex coding guidelines, seeking clarification and agreeing the coding for complex patient episodes.
You will be expected to maintain your personal development and knowledge of Clinical Coding Standards both locally and Nationally.
To obtain, analyse and interpret complex clinical data of all patients denoting diagnoses, co-morbidities, medical and surgical procedures, medical status and relevant family history information; accurately assigning codes using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems - Tenth Revision (ICD-10) and The OPCS Classification of Interventions and Procedures - Fourth Revision (OPCS 4); ensuring that coded information is accurate, complete and timely, thereby contributing to essential management information for the Trust. This is of paramount importance to prevent the loss of income to the Trust, particularly with agendas such as Payment by Results and the Waiting List Initiatives;
About us
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the only acute hospital in the London Borough of Hillingdon and offers a wide range of services, including accident and emergency, inpatient care, day surgery, outpatient clinics, and maternity services. The Trust's services at Mount Vernon Hospital include routine day surgery, delivered at a modern treatment centre, a minor injuries unit, and outpatient clinics.
The safety and well-being of our patients and staff is paramount and we are making urgent improvements to address this - particularly in infection prevention and control. We are making progress by working in partnership with local GPs, charities, community services, academic partners, our local authority, neighbouring hospitals, and the wider North West London Integrated care system, and ensuring that we listen and work in partnership with our local population. We are focused on ensuring that our hospitals provide high quality, safe, and compassionate care, while we drive forward with the building of the new Hillingdon Hospital.
We have over 3,500 members of staff that are proud to care for nearly half a million people, with a vision to be an outstanding provider of healthcare through leading health and academic partnerships, transforming services, to provide the best care where needed
Job description
Job responsibilities
The main duties of a qualified or trained Clinical Coder is to abstract, analyse and interpret relevant information including complex conditions and treatments from patients clinical case notes and translate into a coded format using Nationally Agreed Classifications and Codes, currently ICD10 and OPCS 4 classifications.
To ensure timely completion of coding; continually striving to improve the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of clinical coding;
Understand the impact of coded data on the business aspects of the Trust, and thus be able to provide the information and advice to all health professionals and administrative staff of the nature and complexity of clinical coding and its purposes in areas such as patient care, clinical governance, clinical audit, finance, budgeting, data quality and research;
Communicating complex coding guidelines to clinicians and encouraging them to validate the coding for their activity;
To act as a clinical coding lead as and when required for a designated specialty. Building strong working relationships with the clinicians and other relevant staff within that specialty and be the main point of contact should they have any queries. Continually gaining knowledge within that area to support other coding staff and ensure the highest levels of coding accuracy;
Reporting complex coding queries, documentation and systems data quality inconsistencies, to the Clinical Coding Data Quality Assurance lead or Clinical Coding Management;
Work with Clinicians/Healthcare Professionals/Clinical Coding Management and Finance to ensure the coded data is as accurate and relevant as possible. Ensure local policies are implemented if necessary, and do not contravene any national standards;
Ensure attendance and participation in ongoing internal and external training and professional development opportunities; continuously updating your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and its applications to coding; develop and maintain knowledge of policies and procedures of the coding system used by the Trust including ICD-10, OPCS-4, and others where appropriate;
To organise and prioritise own workload as appropriate to meet the agreed monthly/weekly clinical coding deadlines. on an odd occasion this will involve visits to wards and clinical areas although.
Please be aware that reading through casenotes both paper and electronic will bring the risk of exposure to disturbing written and photographic information;
To work as part of the team to assist and support the training of new and less experienced coding officers, - providing cover for colleagues as and when required; assisting with regular audits of clinical and other information performed by the DQ Assurance lead, Clinical Coding Manager, Finance and Information Teams; and in the customisation of the coding process (system and procedures) to further the efficiency of the Trust - with awareness of local agreed variations to coding rules on proposed changes, as well as report to the Team Leader any contradictions to national guidelines;
To view the main responsibility, please see the attached the Job Description and Person Specification
Job description
Job responsibilities
The main duties of a qualified or trained Clinical Coder is to abstract, analyse and interpret relevant information including complex conditions and treatments from patients clinical case notes and translate into a coded format using Nationally Agreed Classifications and Codes, currently ICD10 and OPCS 4 classifications.
To ensure timely completion of coding; continually striving to improve the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of clinical coding;
Understand the impact of coded data on the business aspects of the Trust, and thus be able to provide the information and advice to all health professionals and administrative staff of the nature and complexity of clinical coding and its purposes in areas such as patient care, clinical governance, clinical audit, finance, budgeting, data quality and research;
Communicating complex coding guidelines to clinicians and encouraging them to validate the coding for their activity;
To act as a clinical coding lead as and when required for a designated specialty. Building strong working relationships with the clinicians and other relevant staff within that specialty and be the main point of contact should they have any queries. Continually gaining knowledge within that area to support other coding staff and ensure the highest levels of coding accuracy;
Reporting complex coding queries, documentation and systems data quality inconsistencies, to the Clinical Coding Data Quality Assurance lead or Clinical Coding Management;
Work with Clinicians/Healthcare Professionals/Clinical Coding Management and Finance to ensure the coded data is as accurate and relevant as possible. Ensure local policies are implemented if necessary, and do not contravene any national standards;
Ensure attendance and participation in ongoing internal and external training and professional development opportunities; continuously updating your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and its applications to coding; develop and maintain knowledge of policies and procedures of the coding system used by the Trust including ICD-10, OPCS-4, and others where appropriate;
To organise and prioritise own workload as appropriate to meet the agreed monthly/weekly clinical coding deadlines. on an odd occasion this will involve visits to wards and clinical areas although.
Please be aware that reading through casenotes both paper and electronic will bring the risk of exposure to disturbing written and photographic information;
To work as part of the team to assist and support the training of new and less experienced coding officers, - providing cover for colleagues as and when required; assisting with regular audits of clinical and other information performed by the DQ Assurance lead, Clinical Coding Manager, Finance and Information Teams; and in the customisation of the coding process (system and procedures) to further the efficiency of the Trust - with awareness of local agreed variations to coding rules on proposed changes, as well as report to the Team Leader any contradictions to national guidelines;
To view the main responsibility, please see the attached the Job Description and Person Specification
Person Specification
Personal Spec
Essential
- GCSE grade C or above / O Level equivalent in Maths and English
- Clinical Coding Foundation Course
- ACC
Desirable
- Knowledge of Trust policies in particular, Data Confidentiality, Data Security and Data Quality
- Knowledge of SimpleCode
- Knowledge of other Trust software
Person Specification
Personal Spec
Essential
- GCSE grade C or above / O Level equivalent in Maths and English
- Clinical Coding Foundation Course
- ACC
Desirable
- Knowledge of Trust policies in particular, Data Confidentiality, Data Security and Data Quality
- Knowledge of SimpleCode
- Knowledge of other Trust software
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
