Appointments Booking Officer

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 25,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS Pension

Generous annual leave

Discounts at local shops/restaurants

On-site nurseries

Flexible working opportunities

Job summary

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Appointments Booking Officer to handle inbound calls from patients and service users and assist Specialist Bookers with clinic booking administration. You will provide efficient support to the Central Booking Office and manage referrals and appointment changes in line with Trust policies.

You will work in a busy call-centre style environment, using ERS, TrakCare and Excel, with training provided and opportunities to develop within a

Qualifications

• GCSEs or equivalent with English and Maths.
• Experience in a call centre environment.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• NHS experience and strong communication skills (written and verbal).
• Good IT skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Ability to learn various IT systems and use them concurrently.

Responsibilities

• Answer inbound calls from patients and service users.
• Assist Specialist Bookers with admin for clinic bookings.
• Provide admin support to the Central Booking Office (CBO).
• Book patients into clinic slots; modify or cancel appointments; send letters to patients.
• Process manual referrals to TrakCare within set timescales.
• Support Booking Specialists to maximise slot utilisation.
• Follow Trust patient access policies and inform about cancellations.
• Liaise with medical records to ensure notes are available for appointments.
• Handle a wide range of admin tasks accurately and efficiently.
• Process ERS transfers and respond to clinicians’ triaging comments.
• Use ERS, TrakCare and Excel concurrently.
• Train new staff and escalate training issues to supervisor.
• Identify and escalate internal/external process changes affecting CBO.
• Work within established CBO and Trust policies; manage workload.

Skills

Call centre experience

Medical terminology

NHS experience

Communication skills

IT literacy

Education

GCSEs including English and Maths

Tools

ERS

TrakCare

Excel

Job description

The main role of the Appointments Booking Officer is to answering inbound calls from patients and other service users. Following the Trust's guidelines and confidentiality policies., The Appointment Booking Officer will also be assisting the Specialist Bookers with the admin processes associated with clinic bookings.Provide an effective and efficient administrative support to the Central Booking Office (CBO)., To answer all incoming calls from patients, staff and other healthcare professionals. Ensure issues are escalated in a timely manner to the most appropriate team or supervisor following department processes. Booking patients into clinic slots, making changes to their existing appointment if required or cancel as requested ensuring the relevant letter is sent to the patient. To manage the manual referrals coming to the booking office by post and add them to Trakcare within in the agreed timescale. To support the Booking Specialists in maximising the slot utilisation.Follow the Trusts patient access policy to ensure patients are booked appropriately. To support the Booking Specialists in cancelling clinics at short notice and telephoning patients to inform. Deal sensitively with any concerns or issues raised by patients and provide a high level of customer support. To liaise with medical records where appropriate to ensure notes are available for patients clinic appointments. To complete a large range of complex admin tasks selecting the appropriate process and following them accurately and efficiently. Processing ERS transfers following various processes dependent upon the speciality. Action clinicians triaging comments by selecting relevant services and sending details to patient to book appointments online. Using various IT systems simultaneously. These include ERS, trakcare, excel. Training new staff in the full Booking Assistant role including competencies sign off and escalating any issues with training to the supervisor.Identifying issues with both internal processes and external changes that impact the work of the CBO, escalating to the relevant staff members.Follow numerous CBO and trust wide processes and policies.Manage own workload to ensure that all tasks are completed within required timescales. Undertake any other appropriate duties within the role, as required at the request of your Line Manager. Ability to communicate clearly with patients or other service users, provide information on a range of issues relating to their referral or appointment. The majority of this will be over the phone in a call centre type environment. Respond to queries from colleagues or other staff relating to the clinic booking, via email/telephone/in person. Ability to work with the well-established booking office guidelines and procedures, seek support from the booking office supervisors where necessary. Intermediate IT skills and the ability to adapt with the IT systems used by the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This will include various systems to be used alongside each other. Deal with the Central Booking Office's admin tasks in line with guidelines and processes. To be familiar and work to the Trust's policies and procedures such as confidentiality and security of data.,

• Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent, Experience of working within a call centre environment
• Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment
• Knowledge of medical terminology
• NHS experience, Good communication skills, written and verbal
• Good IT skills and a high level of proficiency in Microsoft office
• Excellent organisational skills
• Ability to learn various IT systems and use them alongside each other, Keyboard skills equivalent to RSA 3
• With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
• The CBO currently has 70+ staff consisting of Management, Lead Supervisors, Supervisors, Booking Specialists, Support Supervisor and Admin & Phone team staff. Following successful completion of training, you may have the opportunity to work as part of a hybrid rota. Equipment will be provided; however, this is subject to having a suitable home setup with sufficient space for a second screen.