Job summary
- Main area
- Admin
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday)
- Job ref
- 196-A&C357
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Evelina London Children's Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £27,948 - £29,468 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 06/05/2024 09:00
Employer heading
Patient Access Coordinator
NHS AfC: Band 3
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
The Patient Access Co-ordinator will be the first point of contact for patients and service users providing an in-depth knowledge of outpatient and inpatient scheduling procedures for their speciality.
The Patient Access Co-ordinator will liaise closely with the clinical team and speciality management teams to ensure patients receive timely and appropriate appointments according to their care pathway.
Depending on the requirements of the speciality, the post holder will be required to rotate within the team, providing clinic reception cover, scheduling functions, general administrative support and telephone cover for their speciality. This will ensure that, at every contact with the Trust, patients are able to speak to staff who understand their scheduling needs and that clinical teams are always supported by knowledgeable administrative staff.
Main duties of the job
This post requires good organisational and communication skills with a proactive and flexible approach. Responsibilities include;
- Front of house reception duties for Theatre and Pre-assessment.
- Working with Patient pathway Coordinator to plan and manage of patient bookings, overseeing waiting lists and managing urgent referrals.
- Act as a primary point of contact for patients and other professionals.
- Working across multiple sites, Monday to Friday, between 9am - 5pm.
- Expected to meet set KPIs
- Ensure accessibility to patients and colleagues
Working for our organisation
The Trust
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust is one of the largest in the NHS. A full range of services is provided to the local population and patients from further afield. St Thomas’ Hospital is located on the south bank of the river Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament. Guy’s Hospital is adjacent to London Bridge. Both hospitals have excellent transport links.
Organisational Values
Our values help us to define and develop our culture, what we do and how we do it. It is important that you understand and reflect these values throughout your employment with the Trust.
The post holder will:
- Put patients first
- Take pride in what they do
- Respect others
- Strive to be the best
- Act with integrity
Our values and behaviours framework describes what it means for every one of us in the Trust to put our values into action. The framework can be found on our Trust careers pages and GT Intranet.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Patient Access Co-ordinator will be the first point of contact for patients and service users providing an in depth knowledge of outpatient and inpatient scheduling procedures for their speciality.
The Patient Access Co-ordinator will liaise closely with the clinical team and speciality management teams to ensure patients receive timely and appropriate appointments according to their care pathway.
Depending on the requirements of the speciality, the post holder will be required to rotate within the team, providing clinic reception cover, scheduling functions, general administrative support and telephone cover for their speciality. This will ensure that, at every contact with the Trust, patients are able to speak to staff who understand their scheduling needs and that clinical teams are always supported by knowledgeable administrative staff.
Main Duties
- Be responsible for the scheduling of outpatient, elective admissions and all associated appointments according to clinical urgency and length of wait in accordance with departmental procedures and Trust Policies.
- Liaise with patients prior to their visit to ensure that a mutually convenient date and time is agreed.
- Ensure that patients are appropriately reminded of their appointments. This may include sending reminder letters or contacting patients by telephone, up to seven days before their visit to re-confirm attendance in line with departmental protocols.
- Provide a courteous and efficient point of contact for patients both face to face and over the telephone.
At reception
- Provide a welcoming and efficient reception service and to put patients at their ease.
- Administer the clinic using the clinical system as per the department protocols.
- Ensure that all data is inputted accurately into the clinical system in a timely manner.
- Liaise with the medical, nursing and allied health professional staff to ensure the smooth running of the clerical function within the clinics.
- Escalate any issues where appropriate to Team Leaders.
Ongoing pathway management
- Develop expertise in all aspects of the speciality pathways for your access team.
- Attend regular meetings with management and clinical teams to review booking horizons and to ensure that theatre lists are signed off by clinical teams seven days prior to this list taking place.
- Work flexibly to ensure the department operates effectively, including working across sites and across all specialty boundaries.
- Ensure that the any telephone, e-mail or written queries are responded to within the appropriate timeframe and escalated if necessary.
Standards monitoring
- Ensure telephone calls are answered within the agreed time and in line with the Trust greeting policy.
- Ensure that all waiting list requests are added to the waiting list within two working days of receipt of request.
- Support the Team Leader to investigate any breaches of the above standards.
Other
- Assist with co-ordination of multi-disciplinary team meetings.
- Undertake any general office responsibilities including collection and distribution of faxes and post, sorting of incoming post into departmental and priority order, date and receipt stamping of any post.
- Participate in department development as appropriate and participate in departmental meetings.
Undertake any other duties commensurate to the grade, required to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the department.
Person specification
Qualifications/Education
Essential criteria
- Good general education with English and Maths to GCSE standard or equivalent
Desirable criteria
- IT package qualification / training (Word, excel, outlook etc)
- Customer service qualification / training
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
- Proven experience of working in an administrative role
- Experience of working in a customer focused environment demonstrating the ability to deal difficult customers and challenging situations
Desirable criteria
- Experience of an administrative role within the NHS
Skills & Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent organisational skills
- Ability to work within a team
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the key waiting times targets including 18 weeks RTT and 6 weeks diagnostic
- Use of trust systems (Epic, PIMS, Galaxy, etc)
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Ashley Milne
- Job title
- Team Leader
- Email address
- [email protected]
List jobs with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in Administrative Services or all sectors