Job summary
This caring and busy Outpatient Appointment Centre is looking for a Patient Access Administrator to join us at these exciting times.
Being a key link between patients and services provided b y the trust, the role involves managing the referrals to elective service, booking appropriate appointments, answering complex non-clinical GP queries, manage the trust-wide clinic cancellation requests and the trust's outpatient appointment reminder service, that are critical part of a patient's elective care journey.
Outpatient Appointment Centre is the start of the 18-week Pathway for Patients; therefore, candidates must possess an ability to learn quickly, retain large amounts of information and enjoy working in a pressured environment which requires targets to be delivered within an agreed time-frame.
The post holder will use the PAS system, NHS e-Referral Service, appointment reminder system, e-Vetting system and other systems as part of the day-to-day work. Hence knowledge of working on systems and processes would be essential. Excellent IT skills, call centre experience and knowledge of RTT rules are also essential.
Main duties of the job
1. Ensure that all appointments are booked in line with the current Patient Access Policy and booking criteria.
2. To take on specialised responsibility for multiple specialities on a rotational basis
3. To answer all written and telephone queries, and resolution within specified timescales, recording and reporting the query details on PAS and response times will be part of this role.
4. Deal with patients in a mature manner when speaking to them on the phone or via emails.
5. To highlight referrals that require rapid and urgent attention and deal with them as per agreed process.
6. Act as a single point of contact to GP practices and referrers - to communicate various agreed work procedures, guiding and advising the GP Practice on most appropriate referral route, and communicate the clinically returned/rejected referrals
7. To proactively manage the Outpatient Wait List to
8. To highlight capacity issues to Service managers within the timescales agreed
9. To analyse and action the reports of the appointment reminder system
10. To manage and escalate NHS eRS worklists.
About us
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS FoundationTrust delivers acute services at The Hillingdon Hospital, as well as some services at Mount Vernon Trust has a turnover of around £250m and employs over 3,300 staff. We deliver high-quality healthcare to the residents of the LondonBorough of Hillingdon, and increasingly to those living in the surrounding areas of Ealing, Harrow, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, giving us a total catchment population of over 350,000.
This is a challenging time for the Trust. We face significant operational pressures through increased demand. We are currently rated by CQC as Requires Improvement, we do not meet some of our constitutional standards,have an underlying £23m deficit and we have an extremely poor estate. However, we're not daunted by the scale of the challenge andhave clear plans in place to get a grip on operational performance as well as improve effectiveness and efficiency. We have launched Brunel Partners Academic Centre for Health Sciences, a new centre providing the perfect setting for research and developing new methods of healthcare delivery across allied health, nursing, social care and medicine and we are developing plans to build a new academic health campus that would include a new hospital for us all.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Ensure that all appointments are booked in line with the current Patient Access Policy and booking criteria.- To take on specialised responsibility for multiple specialities on a rotational basis- To answer all written and telephone queries, and resolution within specified timescales, recording and reporting the query details on PAS and response times will be part of this role.- Deal with patients in a mature manner when speaking to them on the phone or via emails. This may sometimes involve dealing with distressed patients and a sensitive and reassuring approach is required in difficult situations as per trust CARES values; and to include detailedunderstanding of the principles of patient confidentiality, data protection and safeguarding.- To highlight referrals that require urgent attention and deal with them properly. This can sometimes involve discussions with the clinical teams directly to arrange where the patient needs to be booked. This also involves rapidly highlighting capacity concerns in the urgent and two week rule (2WW) / suspected cancer pathways to ensure patients are seen accordingto clinical priority and also that the trust achieves the national cancer targets.- Act as a single point of contact to GP practices and referrers - to communicate various agreed work procedures, guiding and advising the GP Practice on most appropriate referral route, and communicate the clinically returned/rejected referrals- To proactively manage the Outpatient Wait List to- Ensure the referrals are registered in the order of receipt and within timescales specified- Ensure the vetting SLA is being met- To proactively record, analyse and report on Outpatient Demand vs Capacity figures (paper and eReferral Service) to ensure all capacity issues are highlighted to Service managerswithin the timescales agreed- To analyse and action the reports of the appointment reminder system- To manage and escalate capacity issues of Appointment Slot issues + Appointments for Booking worklists, delays with Referrals for Bookings worklist on NHS eReferral Service.- To respond to and guide the team with complicated queries- To run the Short Notice patients lists for respective specialities and manage their bookings to improve clinic utilisation- To coordinate and maintain communication within and outside of the team, liaise directly with the RTT Validation Team, Service Managers, and where appropriate, the Clinicians.- To work independently to defined policies and procedures, managing own workload, record and solve issues. Escalate complex issues and share ideas / suggestions to the Coordinator and Deputy Head of Patient Access
Please review the full Job Description attached
Person Specification
Person Spec
Essential
11. Good level of general education - A levels or NVQ level 3 or equivalent work experience
12. Excellent IT skills - ECDL or equivalent experience in IT systems
13. Knowledge of national guides and policies with regards to Patient Access
14. Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate with staff and the public at all levels in a friendly and professional manner
15. Ability to prioritise workloads, and be able to respond to changing requirements and demands
Desirable
16. Knowledge of the NHS and in particular Acute Trust
17. Experience in a busy office environment
18. Cerner/similar IT system experience
19. xperience of reducing/cancelling clinics on PAS system
20. Knowledge of the NHS and in particular Acute Trust
21. Previous clinic operational Cerner experience
22. General office administration skills, working towards targets
23. Previous experience of dealing with patients and GPs over the phone