Patient Administrator

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full time Patient Administrator within the Ophthalmology department at Queen Mary’s Hospital.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and proactive person to join our administration team, to provide excellent patient pathway support for patients in Ophthalmology. This will include providing support to the administration team, department mailboxes and liaising closely with our clinical staff.

The ideal candidate will possess excellent communication skills, be able to prioritise and organise a varied workload and be IT literate, with working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook. We welcome applications from candidates who can build effective working relationships at all levels, both within the Trust and externally and work using their own initiative. In return, the post holder will be supported in their role through training, supervision and opportunities to develop.

The successful candidate will be expected to manage all administrative duties on a rotational basis; this will include managing all routine appointments and being the first point of contact for patient queries and escalating in line with the Trusts current access policy. Experience of working in a health administration setting would be desirable.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to progress to the next stage of their career within the NHS and join a department that is continuously evolving.

Main duties of the job

The ideal candidate will possess excellent organisational, communication and problem solving skills. They should also be able to demonstrate that they can foster and maintain relations within the administration team as well as the wider ophthalmology team including nurses and clinicians.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to progress to the next stage of their career within the NHS and join a department that is undergoing exciting developments. The successful candidate will be expected to m anage and answer telephone calls, taking telephone messages and passing on written or verbal information to patients. Booking patient’s appointments. Managing post, sending letters and monitoring ‘In-Basket’, and carry out general office duties.

Experience of working in a health administration setting would be desirable.

This post will include weekend reception duties on a rotational basis.

Whilst this post will be based at Queen Mary's Hospital, it will be part of a team working across all three Kings sites and travel will be necessary as appropriate to service needs in urgent circumstances.

Working for our organisation

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. Communication and Patient Liaison

Communicate clearly, effectively and compassionately with the multidisciplinary team, patients and their family, visitors or carers, in line with the Trust’s values.

• Manage and answer telephone calls related to the service in a courteous and prompt manner, taking telephone messages and passing on written or verbal information to patients.
• Resolve simple queries, using judgement to determine when to pass the caller on to a member of the clinical team.
• Act as a point of contact for the department or specialty, dealing with queries from stakeholders and passing on relevant information to appropriate team members as required.
• To participate in the reception rota, checking patients in and completing end of day process.
• Receive and respond to patient e-mail queries, monitoring, managing and triaging email. Plus managing the physical post and ‘In-Basket’
• Escalate complex queries, providing reassurance, an expected response time, and further contact details as appropriate.
• Sending no contact letters, ad hoc letters and other correspondence as directed by senior staff.

2. Coordinating Patient Care

• Responsible for booking of patient’s appointments, diagnostics and procedures, throughout their patient pathway.

• Corresponding with patients, practices and internal staff.

• Conduct reminder calls to patients, rearranging appointments where necessary in-order to prevent non-attendances.

• Management of patient correspondence via text reminder services.

• Responsible for checking all patients are accurately recorded on the waiting list on the Epic system and escalate where issues are identified to the appropriate team member.

• Responsible for accessing appointment booking systems for all routine pre-operative assessments, diagnostics and their associated outcomes.

• Responsible for checking onward orders on Epic system daily ensuring appointments are added within the required timescales, appropriately escalating if required .

• Sending correspondence to patients, GPs, or others involved in the care of a patient, in a timely manner.
  
• Process and register referrals, booking all outpatient appointments and procedures within Epic.

• To organise additional services for patients as required, such as interpreters and transport

• Collate required patient information at the request of clinical teams.

3. Supporting Clinical Teams

• Monitoring of clinical staff inboxes and flagging of high priority correspondence.

• Monitoring of ‘InBasket’ function for internal correspondence.

• Monitoring relevant work queues relating to the service
• Booking patients in line with clinical diaries as per local process
• Attendance at meetings when required.

4. Data Management, Data Quality and Systems Responsibilities

• Accessing information in Epic and accurately inputting data and editing entries as required.
  
• Record and capture patient information appropriately and in line with Standard Operating Procedures.
  
• Ensure patient demographics are correct by checking with the patient at every encounter, highlighting any duplicate records and escalating to the supervisor.

• Supporting patients to successfully register on MyChart App, and signpost them to existing Helpdesk for issue.

· Supporting data quality workstreams and work-queues where appropriate.

· Analysing, collating and providing data to support management in service development projects

5. Personal Development

• Support national audits and collect data as required in relevant meetings, allowing the Trust to identify and improve treatment in patient cohorts.

• Identify and suggest improvements that can be made to the patient care pathway and/or the patient pathway tracking process.

• Actively engage in appraisal process and in Continuous Professional Development opportunities in line with set objectives.

6. General responsibilities

• Carry out general office duties such as photocopying, scanning and filing.
  
• Handle incoming and outgoing mail in a timely manner.
  
• Ensure office protocols are adhered to, for example telephone answering times and voicemail or mailbox cover.
  
• Ensure adequate stock levels are maintained, reporting low stock levels to the supervisor.
  
• Report any faults with equipment or the environment to the relevant department promptly, and as appropriate.
  
• Work flexibly to cover all administrative areas as requested by the supervisor, including covering colleagues or periods of absence where appropriate and within the scope of capabilities
• Assist volunteers in the department
• Assist with the induction and orientation of new staff in the department, showing colleagues how to complete tasks associated with the role.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria

• • Educated to GCSE level or equivalent, with Grade C or above in English and Maths.

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• • Experience of working in an administrative environment.
• • Strong computer skills, including familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite.

Desirable criteria

• • Prior experience in healthcare administration, medical office, or scheduling roles.
• • Understanding of Patient Access Targets
• • Proficiency in Epic, Patient tracking lists and Work-queues.

Skills and Competencies

Essential criteria

• Ability to deal with sensitive information with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team (team player)
• Ability to work independently, to manage and prioritise own workload.
• Attention to detail and strong organisational abilities.
• Flexibility to organise and respond quickly to changes.
• Ability to multitask and work in a fast-paced healthcare environment.
• Ability to organise and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines/targets.
• Keen to further own training and development
• Evidence of positive approach to working in complex environments
• Reliable and Proactive
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with all levels of staff and patients both verbally and in writing
• Calm temperament and able to maintain a professional attitude.
• Open to receiving constructive feedback

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

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