Job summary
- Main area
- Administration
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent: Monday - Friday
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 409-7727317-A
- Employer
- Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Ormskirk Hospital
- Town
- Ormskirk
- Salary
- £24,937 - £26,598 Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 02/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Access Booking Officer
NHS AfC: Band 3
After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
Job overview
We are seeking a motivated and well‑organised individual to join our Access Centre team as an Access Booking Officer. This is a key administrative role where you will play an essential part in ensuring patients are booked promptly, accurately, and appropriately for Inpatient appointments and diagnostic procedures across Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Based at Ormskirk District General Hospital, you will work closely with team leaders, clinical staff, and administrative colleagues to coordinate daily outpatient bookings in line with clinical priorities, national waiting‑time standards, and service requirements. You will be responsible for managing patient pathways from referral through to appointment, ensuring that all bookings are handled with accuracy, professionalism, and a strong focus on patient experience.
Interview date to be confirmed.
Previous applicants need not apply.
Main duties of the job
The role requires excellent communication skills, strong attention to detail, and the ability to manage a busy and varied workload independently. You will often be the first point of contact for patients and their families, providing clear information, reassurance, and support to help them navigate their care journey.
This position offers the opportunity to make a meaningful and visible contribution to patient care. Your work will directly support the Trust’s commitment to delivering Five Star Patient Care to a population of more than 600,000 people across Merseyside, West Lancashire, and the surrounding areas. As part of a supportive and dedicated team, you will play a vital role in ensuring patients receive timely access to the services they need.
Working for our organisation
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Patient Access & Coordination
- Deliver a comprehensive inpatient and outpatient booking service, rotating across all areas of the Access Office to ensure full service coverage.
- Act as a named point of contact for patients, relatives, carers, and clinical teams, providing clear and timely communication in person, by phone, in writing, or electronically.
- Add patients accurately to waiting lists, ensuring all relevant clinical and administrative notes are recorded.
- Provide patients with guidance relating to their admission, including pre‑ and post‑operative information and updates on their waiting‑list position.
- Liaise with Bed Management teams regarding stand‑by patients or cancellations due to capacity issues.
Theatre & Procedure List Management
- Plan multiple theatre and procedure lists up to six weeks in advance, using clinical knowledge and medical terminology to support 18‑week RTT, diagnostic, cancer, and 28‑day rescheduling targets.
- Ensure theatre lists are fully and efficiently utilised, taking into account patient needs, cancellations, short‑notice changes, and clinical requirements.
- Communicate all updates relating to elective admissions, theatre lists, kit requirements, and anaesthetic needs to relevant staff across the Trust.
- Confirm appropriate funding is in place before admission where required.
- Enter all confirmed bookings onto the theatre system (Galaxy) promptly and ensure finalised lists are circulated to secretaries within required timescales.
Outpatient Booking & Referral Management
- Manage all outpatient waiting lists and appoint patients from PTLs in line with Trust performance standards.
- Register referral letters and ensure all referrals (including ERS) are directed to the correct consultant or clinic.
- Book new and follow‑up appointments in accordance with departmental procedures and agreed timescales.
- Manage clinic cancellations or reductions on PAS and ERS, ensuring patients are rebooked appropriately.
- Maintain and update clinic templates in line with changes to medical rotas.
- Oversee ERS appointments, including patient‑initiated cancellations, ASIs, and capacity escalations.
- Manage partial booking lists and escalate issues to operational teams when required.
- Process ward forms to ensure follow‑up appointments are arranged or escalated.
- Record attendances retrospectively when patients are seen outside of clinic.
Communication & Patient Support
- Handle patient enquiries with empathy, professionalism, and confidence, offering reassurance and clear information.
- Support patients who may face communication barriers due to language, cultural differences, age, or additional needs, using tact and negotiation to agree suitable appointment or procedure dates.
- Communicate sensitive or unpleasant information in a compassionate and supportive manner.
Performance, Compliance & Data Quality
- Monitor waiting lists proactively, identifying and resolving issues that may lead to breaches of access targets.
- Analyse waiting‑list data regularly and escalate capacity concerns promptly.
- Ensure full compliance with two‑week‑wait standards for suspected cancer referrals.
- Maintain high standards of data quality when inputting, extracting, and producing information across Trust systems.
- Work within established policies, procedures, and escalation processes to support efficient, patient‑centred service delivery.
Teamwork, Training & Service Support
- Work flexibly to support colleagues during periods of leave or increased service demand.
- Assist with the training and induction of new staff, offering ongoing support with workload coordination.
- Contribute to departmental meetings, providing updates on consultant activity and waiting‑time reductions.
- Use Trust resources responsibly, ensuring minimal waste and cost‑effective working.
- Attend weekly operational meetings to discuss capacity, provide updates, and support problem‑solving.
- Generate and send all relevant letters and information leaflets for both paper and electronic referrals.
- Manage shared email inboxes and main telephone lines on a rotational basis.
Professional Development
- Maintain up‑to‑date mandatory training.
- Participate in annual appraisal and agree a personal development plan aligned with Trust objectives.
- Seek support from supervisors if challenges arise in meeting development goals.
- Engage with opportunities for learning and development provided by the Trust
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- ECDL or equivalent
- NVQ 2 customer care or equivalent experience
- 5 GCSEs grade C or above
Desirable criteria
- NVQ 3 business and admin
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Computer literate – experience of using Microsoft packages
- Working within a multidisciplinary team
- Experience of working in a customer service environment
- Excellent communication skills to overcome barriers of understanding
- Experience of collating data
- Working in a demanding environment
- Ability to organise self, working to deadlines and ensuring quality standards
Desirable criteria
- Use of patient administrative systems
- Experience of scheduling / coordination activities and/or resources.
- Waiting list management experience
- Knowledge of NHS standards and targets
- Communication with patients in a healthcare setting
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent organisational skills
- Able to work under pressure & to strict deadlines
- Able to work effectively across departmental boundaries
- Demonstrate effective written, verbal and telephone communication skills with team/clients/relatives, using tact when required
- Demonstrate knowledge of dealing with public/conflict
- Demonstrate a caring manner with an understanding disposition
- High standard of accuracy
- Flexibility and able to adapt to change
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to work as a flexible and effective team member
Other
Essential criteria
- To frequently sit and concentrate in a restricted position for a substantial proportion of the working time due to continuous exposure to VDU equipment, inputting information via a keyboard and using a telephone headset. Whilst using multiple computer systems at the same time.
- To multi-task between activities with frequent interruptions and a need to leave one task immediately. Reprioritise your workload to resolve any unexpected issues
- Ability to concentrate when taking patient details over the phone throughout the day
- Requirement to deal with distressed patients on a daily basis
- Working in an office environment, using a VDU continuously throughout the day
Our Values
Essential criteria
- We are Kind
- We are Open
- We are Inclusive
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Suzanne Hogan
- Job title
- Recruiting Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01695 656279
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