Outpatient Department – Receptionist/Clerical Officer BGH

Job overview

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

The post holder will be responsible for the provision of a comprehensive and efficient Reception Service to patients/service users within the East Lancashire Health Community, ensuring a high level of Customer Care whilst maintaining confidentiality at all times.

Burnley General Hospital - Monday to Friday, 4pm - 8pm, 20 hours per week.  We have a fantastic team of people who are conscientious, caring, reliable, flexible and compassionate, all qualities which are essential to the NHS. If you want to be part of this team and have the necessary skills, we would like to meet you.

Main duties of the job

A flexible approach to work is essential with a willingness to work across sites (Royal Blackburn & Burnley General Teaching hospitals) between the hours of 8am and 8pm, as you will be required to cover for holidays or sickness absence, this may also include Bank Holidays.  You will be trained on all systems used at ELHT. Your duties will include, but not limited to , answering queries from patients whilst working on a busy reception desk as well as by telephone. This will include greeting and arriving patients, making follow up appointments . You must be able to deal with people confidentiality and sensitively both face to face and over the telephone, ensuring a high level of customer care. Arrange when necessary the attendance of interpreter/link workers for patients who require communication assistance when attending clinics and booking patient transport for their return journey.

You will also need to prepare casenotes provided for certain clinics, ensuring  specific attention to the data items required for commissioning purposes and data quality in line with the Trust’s Clinical Records Policy. Adhere to departmental policies and procedures and participate in audits in order to maintain data quality and provide an efficient service

This can be a very challenging and physical environment including some manual handling (Casenotes).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Act as first point of contact for all patients and visitors to the Department, providing a comprehensive reception and clerical Service to patients, relatives, carers, consultants and their teams
• Booking in patients attending outpatient clinics and issuing return appointments as directed by the consultant/nursing staff prior to the patient leaving the Department
• Identify potential Overseas Visitors and patients liable to pay for treatment at the point of referral/reception to the department, checking the residence status for all new patients for Overseas Visitors and inform the General Office Team as per the Overseas Visitors Policy and Procedure.
• Print referrals from the Choose and Book System/email system for patients attending forthcoming clinics (Currently Eye clinic only). Check Cerner Millenium for all other specialty referrals to ensure they are available for the Clinician to view.
• Work within the departmental shift patterns to cover the opening hours of the service, i.e. 8.00am – 8.00pm as and when required, including Bank Holidays across all sites
• Cancel/reduce clinic schedules, liaising with the patient by letter, txt or by telephone in the case of short notice cancellations.  Arrange for the Transport Department to hand deliver letters to patients for any short notice cancellations where telephone contact cannot be made.
• Re-schedule cancelled appointments and ensure all cancelled follow up patients are seen within reasonable time from their original appointment date in line with the Trust’s Access, Booking and Choice Policy as and when required, reporting any problems to the outpatient team leader/supervisor