Job summary
The purpose of the role is to:
Undertake a variety of reception/administrative duties to assist in the smooth running of the practice including administrative support to clinical staff and other members of the practice team.
Offer general assistance to the practice team and project a positive and friendly image to patients and other visitors, either in person or via the telephone
Receive, assist and direct patients in accessing the appropriate service or healthcare professional in a courteous, efficient and effective way
Facilitate effective communication between patients, members the primary health care team, secondary care and other associated healthcare agencies.
Main duties of the job
General Admin and reception duties
- Meet & greet patients
- Answering and attending to all calls in a professional and courteous manner
- Booking patients on the online Medical Database appointment system (EMIS WEB)
- Liaise with doctors & patients
- Maintain confidentiality of all the doctors, staff and patient information
- Maintain highest standards of health & hygiene safety
- Adhere to all policy and protocols set within the Practice
- Liaise with service providers
- Emails and mail timeously attended to
- Processing prescription requests
About us
Annandale Medical Centre is an established GP practice located in Potters Bar, with approximately 7800 patients. Our busy practice are recruiting medical admin /receptionists to join our friendly team.
Annandale Medical Centre prides itself on delivering the highest standard of healthcare to our community.
We are looking for an individual who is warm, welcoming, hard working, friendly and possess the empathic NHS care ethic required to provide the health care our patients.
The role requires excellent telephone and face to face manners, a high standard of written English and the ability to multi- task in a fast paced environment. Excellent time management and records keeping skills are essential in this position.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Duties andresponsibilities:
The dutiesand responsibilities to be undertaken by members of the practice administrationteam may include any of the following which may be varied from time to timeunder the direction of the Practice Manager.
Reception
Receivingpatients, consulting with members of practice team
Ensure aneffective and efficient and polite reception service is provided to patientsand any other visitors to the practice
Processingpersonal and telephone requests for appointments, visits and telephoneconsultations, and ensuring callers are directed to the appropriate healthcareprofessional
Deal with allgeneral enquiries, explain procedures and make new and follow-up appointments
Assertingjudgement to ensure that urgent appointments are given in accordance to thepractice policy
Explainpractice arrangements and formal requirements to new patients and those seekingtemporary cover, and ensure procedures are completed
Enterrequests for home visits onto the duty doctor appointment screen, ensuring tocarefully record all relevant details and referring to duty doctor wherenecessary
Arrangingtransport for patients
Be aware ofwhat is going on in the patient waiting area and be alert to problems
Processingand distributing incoming and outgoing post
Undertake anyother additional duties appropriate to the post as requested by the partners orthe practice manager
Ensure thatall visitors to the practice are signed in and out of the visitors book
Takingmessages and passing on information
Processingrepeat prescriptions in accordance with practice guidelines
Computer dataentry/data allocation and collation; processing and recording information inaccordance with practice procedures
Providingclerical assistance to practice staff as required from time to time, includingword/data processing, filing, photocopying and scanning
Keeping thereception area, notice-boards and leaflet dispensers tidy and free fromobstructions and clutter
Be able tocover all reception positions as necessary
To ensurethat all clinical staff are ready for their patient surgeries: the room has itsPC switched on, systems and printers are up and running
Undertake anyother additional duties appropriate to the post as requested by the partners orthe practice manager
Telephone
Have workingknowledge of telephone, during and after hours
Answer callsin a polite and professional manner
Receive andmake telephone calls as required. Divert calls and take messages, ensuringaccuracy of detail and prompt appropriate delivery
Appointments
Processappointment requests for today/future appointments from patients by telephoneand in person
Deal withvisits/requests
RepeatPrescriptions
To collectrepeat prescription requests from the post box and reception
To retrieverequests for prescriptions made via EPS
To liaisewith patients and chemists regarding queries and requests
To ensurerepeat medication is issued in line with the protocols that are already inplace and ensure that any queries raised are dealt with quickly and correctly
To ensurethat patient queries on medication are highlighted to the relevant GP
To regularlygo through prescriptions not picked up and unlikely to be picked up as a resultof the timescale, to remove the details from the patient records and thendestroy the prescription
Scanningduties
Sort and datestamp all incoming patient-related mail
Scanpatient-related documents onto their medical record using read codes as agreedby the clinical team
Add anyadditional information about the source of the document
Forward thedocument to the doctor or nurse who initiated the referral or who is mostappropriate to receive the information
Ensureincoming letters are scanned onto the patient record within a 48/72-hourtimescale
Scan allinternal paper documents on to the relevant patients record and then store thedocuments in line with surgery policy
Coding
Identifyrelevant clinical information contained in patient correspondence
Code or freetext the clinical information on to the patient record as per practice protocol
Deal withqueries relating to coding
Administration
To have athorough knowledge of all practice procedures
To work inaccordance of written policies
Photocopy andscan as requested
Carryouttasks relating to patient records, including filing, document management, andensuring patients can access reports, prescriptions and that they are easilyaccessible.
Computer
Registrationsof new patients computer data entry and medical records
Processpatients changes of address computer data and medical records (have knowledgeof practice area)
Processrepeat prescription requests in accordance with practice guidelines
Other Tasks
Work throughand tick off all opening/closing instructions, using the checklist provided.
Clear roomsafter surgeries
Make andserve refreshments, ensure the kitchen is kept clean and tidy and air and tidythe waiting room in turn with other staff
Ensurebuilding security have thorough knowledge of doors/windows/alarm
Any othertasks allocated by managers
Premises:
Open uppremises at the start of the day when first to arrive, de-activate alarm andmake all necessary preparations to clinical rooms, ready to receive patients
When last toleave at the end of the day, ensure that the building is totally secured,internal lights are off and the alarm activated
Keep thereception office and patient reception area, notice boards and leafletdispensers tidy and free from obstructions and clutter
Confidentiality:
In the courseof seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather,sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do soin confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect theirprivacy and act appropriately
In theperformance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder mayhave access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers,practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access toinformation relating to the practice as a business organisation. All suchinformation from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
Informationrelating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or thebusiness of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons inaccordance with the practice policies and procedures relating toconfidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
Health &safety:
Thepost-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and othershealth, safety and security as defined in the practice health & safetypolicy, the practice health & safety manual, and the practice infectioncontrol policy and published procedures. This will include:
Usingpersonal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
Identifyingthe risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a waythat manages those risks
Makingeffective use of training to update knowledge and skills
Usingappropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy andsafe way and free from hazards
Activelyreporting of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately whenrecognised
Keeping ownwork areas and general/patient areas generally clean, assisting in themaintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope ofthe job holders role
Undertakingperiodic infection control training (minimum annually)
Reportingpotential risks identified
Equality anddiversity:
Thepost-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carersand colleagues, to include:
Acting in away that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in away that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and currentlegislation
Respectingthe privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
Behaving in amanner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental andrespects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights
Personal/professionaldevelopment:
Thepost-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by thepractice as part of this employment, with such training to include:
Participationin an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility formaintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
Takingresponsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstratingskills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work
Quality:
Thepost-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:
Alert otherteam members to issues of quality and risk
Assess ownperformance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or undersupervision
Contribute tothe effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities andmaking suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
Workeffectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
Effectivelymanage own time, workload and resources
Communication:
Thepost-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication withinthe team and will strive to:
Communicateeffectively with other team members
Communicateeffectively with patients and carers
Recognisepeoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
Contributionto the implementation of services:
Thepost-holder will:
Applypractice policies, standards and guidance
Discuss withother members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines willaffect own work
Participatein audit where appropriate
Person Specification
Skills
Essential
1. Use of GP IT - Emis skills
2. Use of Docman
Desirable
3. Emis skills
4. Use of Docman
Qualifications
Essential
5. Eligible to work in the
6. Clean & Tidy Appearance
7. General Secondary Education to GCSE level or equivalent
8. GCSE C or above Maths & English
9. Able to provide complete education/employment history
10. IT skills
Desirable
11. Health care qualifications
12. Receptionist or Customer Service qualification
Experience
Essential
13. 1.Offering high levels of customer service
14. 2.Dealing with patients/customers face to face
15. 3.Dealing with patients/customers on the telephone
16. 4.Microsoft office skills
17. 5.Working in a busy and pressurised environment
18. 6.Working as part of a team
Desirable
19. Desirable
20. Previous experience within General Practice or other NHS environment.
21. Previous EMIS Web clinical system experience.