Appointments Booking Officer, Band 2

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 22,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS pension

On-site nurseries

Discounts at local shops and eateries

Job summary

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Gloucestershire is recruiting an Appointments Booking Officer (Band 2) working 37.5 hours per week to handle inbound calls and support clinic bookings. You will provide efficient administrative support to the Central Booking Office, use standard IT systems, and ensure confidentiality and data security in line with Trust policies.

The role offers exposure to NHS operations, opportunities for development, and a supportive team culture within

Qualifications

• GCSEs with English, Mathematics or equivalent.
• NVQ level 3 in Professional Customer Care or equivalent.
• Experience in a call centre environment is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Answer inbound calls from patients and service users in a call centre environment.
• Book and modify clinic appointments in the booking system.
• Process referrals and manage admin tasks in line with Trust guidelines.
• Provide high level customer service and handle sensitive information.
• Support Booking Specialists and train new staff as required.

Skills

Good communication skills

Microsoft Office

Medical terminology

Education

GCSE English and Mathematics

NVQ level 3 Professional Customer Care

Tools

Trakcare

ERS

Excel

Job description

Current jobs at Gloucestershire Hospitals

At Gloucestershire Hospitals, our people are at the heart of everything we do. As the county’s largest employer, we are proud to provide high-quality acute, elective, and specialist services to more than 650,000 people across our county. Our care is delivered across Gloucestershire Royal, Cheltenham General and Stroud Maternity Hospital.

With over 9,000 employees representing more than 95 nationalities, bringing together a mix of cultures and experiences to the care that we deliver. Whether you’re beginning your NHS journey or looking to take the next step in your career, this is an exciting time to join us. We’re investing heavily in innovation, research, and transformation, with more than 100 active clinical studies and major developments underway across our hospitals.

We take pride in working as one team, driven by a shared ambition to grow, develop, and continually improve. Every contribution is valued and by combining our collective strengths, we support not only our diverse communities but one another. You can expect a warm, supportive culture and colleagues who are passionate about teamwork, professional development and delivering exceptional care. We offer structured development programmes, mentoring and leadership opportunities to help you progress in your career.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from a comprehensive package that includes flexible working opportunities, generous annual leave, the NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, local discounts, access to on-site nurseries, reduced public transport costs, reward and recognition schemes and a wide range of health and wellbeing initiatives.

Be part of Gloucestershire Hospitals, explore your future with us today.

Job overview

Appointments Booking Officer, Band 2 (37.5 hours a week)

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).

Main duties of the job

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.

Please see job description for full requirements

Working for our organisation

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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

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 Trust’s 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 patient’s 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.

Qualifications

• Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent
• Professional customer care skills equating to NVQ level 3

Experience

• Experience of working within a call centre environment
• Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment
• Knowledge of medical terminology
• NHS experience

Knowledge / Skills

• 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

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

You will only be contacted by the Recruitment Team via email if you are shortlisted for this post. Please ensure therefore that you check your e-mail account regularly.

If you require sponsorshipfor a visa to work in the UK, to avoid disappointment, please check to ensure you are eligible under the UKVI points based system