Job summary
This is a Fixed Term contract to cover Maternity Leave.
This is an exciting opportunity to join the world of telephony. This role is varied and requires a flexible approach to ensure the switchboard service delivers a focused service.
This role includes supporting the switchboard team who provide an efficient telephone operator service to the Trust and users of service from a wide range of backgrounds.
The switchboard provides a wide range of duties which includes the handling of general business calls to the implementation of Trust emergency procedures.
The post holder will coordinate the team activities to ensure that call targets are met and when required will provide support as a switchboard operator during peak times.
There is the opportunity to organise, develop and improve Telecommunications Services throughout the Trust.
Interview date: TBC
Main duties of the job
We are pleased to inform you that the plans for St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust to come together as one new organisation have now been formally approved by the Secretary of State. Our new Trust will be called Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and will officially launch on Saturday 1st July 2023.
Any applicants who secure an offer of employment and/ or are due to commence their new role from 1st July 2023 onwards are advised that their conditional offer and contract of employment will be issued as per our normal recruitment process but will be under the new name of the organisation. All the details of the offers of employment and contracts of employment will remain as advertised and these changes will not affect your employment with us.
For further information on the new plans, please see:
Our Future Plans (sthk.nhs.uk)
- The post holder will coordinate the team activities to ensure that call targets are met and when required will provide support as a switchboard operator during peak times.
- There is the opportunity to organise, develop and improve Telecommunications Services throughout the Trust.
- The post holder will promote within and on behalf of the Telecommunications Department, excellent public relations with patients, visitors, and staff as well as members of the public.
About us
St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the only acute Trust in Cheshire and Merseyside and one of the few in the country to achieve OUTSTANDING rated by the Care Quality Commission.
We provide a full range of acute adult services to our local population of circa 360,000 and provide tertiary services across the North West, North Wales, and Isle of Man. We are a Major Trauma Unit and the Mersey Regional Burns Unit.
Our '5 Star Patient Care' strategy is at the heart of what we do; supporting our vision to provide world class services for all our patients by getting it right for every patient, every time.
Our latest achievements include:
- Acute Trust of the Year HSJ Awards November 2019
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Best acute Trust in the North West for quality of care (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
- Best place to work in the North West (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
In the NHS Staff Survey 2021 the Trust scored the highest marks in the North West for the following areas:
- Standard of care
- Best place to work
- Care of patients being the Trust's priority
- Staff engagement
- Staff morale
- Compassionate & inclusive
- Providing safe environments for staff
Please see attached Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our benefits for staff. Accessible version available upon request.
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Create and maintain a switchboard rota to ensure there are adequate staffing levels for the department.
- Ensuring adequate resources are available to meet the agreed KPIs and service levels of the 24x7 service levels are maintained.
- Actively monitor staff call data daily, analyse the data and then feedback to staff on their performance.
- Respond to complaints/ incidents and carry out initial investigations.
- Receive and relay oral and written information internally, making amendments to rosters, and recording special instructions as required.
- To provide help and advice to clients and employees of the Trust requiring assistance.
- Implement the Major Incident Procedure operating the current systems.
- To operate the Trusts internal paging system including Group Alerts for cardiac arrest and other emergency situations.
- To provide an out of hours on call systems for Departments within the Trust, recording all requests for trades persons and clinical staff as directed.
- To maintain effective communication with managers and team members within both the day and night services.
- Organise and plan own work routine.
- Liaison with relevant suppliers of communication equipment for maintenance purposes.
- Assist with the testing of contingency plans and equipment and associated procedures.
- Provide advice and guidance on the specialised procedures, Major Incident, Cardiac Arrest, Fire alarms, General Alarms, Bomb Scares.
- Maintain and monitor all on-site Telecommunication systems, long range pagers and mobile phones.
- Input information into the computer systems as required.
- To provide cover switchboard duties in times of need (24hr service).
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Create and maintain a switchboard rota to ensure there are adequate staffing levels for the department.
- Ensuring adequate resources are available to meet the agreed KPIs and service levels of the 24x7 service levels are maintained.
- Actively monitor staff call data daily, analyse the data and then feedback to staff on their performance.
- Respond to complaints/ incidents and carry out initial investigations.
- Receive and relay oral and written information internally, making amendments to rosters, and recording special instructions as required.
- To provide help and advice to clients and employees of the Trust requiring assistance.
- Implement the Major Incident Procedure operating the current systems.
- To operate the Trusts internal paging system including Group Alerts for cardiac arrest and other emergency situations.
- To provide an out of hours on call systems for Departments within the Trust, recording all requests for trades persons and clinical staff as directed.
- To maintain effective communication with managers and team members within both the day and night services.
- Organise and plan own work routine.
- Liaison with relevant suppliers of communication equipment for maintenance purposes.
- Assist with the testing of contingency plans and equipment and associated procedures.
- Provide advice and guidance on the specialised procedures, Major Incident, Cardiac Arrest, Fire alarms, General Alarms, Bomb Scares.
- Maintain and monitor all on-site Telecommunication systems, long range pagers and mobile phones.
- Input information into the computer systems as required.
- To provide cover switchboard duties in times of need (24hr service).
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- NVQ Level 2 Supervisory Management or equivalent experience
- NVQ Level 2 Customer Service or equivalent experience
Desirable
- ECDL or equivalent qualification
- Foundation in Health and Safety qualification
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of working in a large scale organisation's switchboard/call centre
- Basic computer skills
- Knowledge of principles of Risk Management
Desirable
- Understanding of the Care Quality Commission role
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills
- Provision of a customer-focused service
- Ability to motivate a team
- Ability to instruct less qualified staff/promote life-long learning in the workplace
- Understanding of other services and our impact on them
- Ability to lead change
Others
Essential
- Able to work across all Trust sites
- Able to meet varied and ad-hoc deadlines
- Ability to work under pressure
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- NVQ Level 2 Supervisory Management or equivalent experience
- NVQ Level 2 Customer Service or equivalent experience
Desirable
- ECDL or equivalent qualification
- Foundation in Health and Safety qualification
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of working in a large scale organisation's switchboard/call centre
- Basic computer skills
- Knowledge of principles of Risk Management
Desirable
- Understanding of the Care Quality Commission role
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills
- Provision of a customer-focused service
- Ability to motivate a team
- Ability to instruct less qualified staff/promote life-long learning in the workplace
- Understanding of other services and our impact on them
- Ability to lead change
Others
Essential
- Able to work across all Trust sites
- Able to meet varied and ad-hoc deadlines
- Ability to work under pressure
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.
