Dental Receptionist - Cambridge

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire); Cambridge; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 12,000; Part time

Job summary

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire) is seeking a Receptionist for the Cambridge Dental Access Centre. The role involves front-desk duties across five clinics, managing calls, and maintaining patient records in a busy dental service.

You will support urgent care triage and dental appointments with strong communication and teamwork in an NHS setting. Flexible working and a six-month probation apply.

Qualifications

• GCSE English and Maths at grade C or above.
• Experience in reception or customer care in a busy setting.
• Experience of handling high-volume phone calls and NHS administration.

Responsibilities

• Greet patients and visitors in a professional and organized manner.
• Answer calls, book urgent and routine appointments across five clinics.
• Maintain patient files accurately and promptly.
• Book and reschedule diaries with flexibility for changes.
• Maintain reception area and administrative systems.
• Ensure patient confidentiality at all times.

Skills

Reception experience

Public interaction

Verbal & written comms

Phone handling

NHS admin experience

Administrative experience

Education

GCSE English and Maths Grade C and above

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Main area Administration Grade Band 2 Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Flexible working

15 hours per week (08:00-16.15 Mon & Fri) Job ref 448-AMB-8322362

Employer East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire) Employer type NHS Site Cambridge Dental Access Centre, Brookfield's Town Cambridge Salary £25,272 per annum, pro-rata Salary period Yearly Closing 11/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 19/10/2026

Band 2

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust delivers expert healthcare in people's homes, community hospitals and local settings across the East of England.

Our nurses, therapists, clinicians, support teams and partners work together to provide coordinated care that supports independence, recovery and wellbeing. We believe people are best cared for close to home, in the communities where they live and belong.

By combining professional expertise with strong local relationships, we help people stay well, feel supported and access the right care at the right time. Expert healthcare, close to home, trusted by our communities.

Different ideas, experiences and backgrounds make us stronger and more creative and applications from all walks of life are welcomed. Our processes ensure that all applicants are treated fairly at every stage of the recruitment process.

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is committed to creating a modern and inclusive work environment. We actively promote flexible working opportunities where possible to meet the needs and wishes of our workforce and maintain and improve their wellbeing. We also offer flexible working patterns and we would encourage you to discuss this with the recruiting manager before or during the application process if this would interest you.

We welcome applications from people who share our values and can help us deliver outstanding care in our local community.

Before applying for this vacancy, please make sure you're familiar with ongoing GOV.uk sponsorship eligibility criteria which will impact the organisations ability to provide sponsorship, whether this is currently or in the future.

Please note, our selection processes are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right values and skills. Please be advised that the use of AI in applications is monitored. We remain watchful of candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn't accurately reflect their skills.

Please note all new starters will be subject to a 6 month probationary period.

Job overview

The Dental Service provides a wide range of treatments to a diverse group of people; therefore, good interpersonal skills are required to fulfil this frontline role.

You will be part of a team of Receptionists, spanning five clinics, including Wisbech, Ely, Peterborough and Huntingdon, so good communication and teamwork skills are vital.

You must possess excellent communication and people skills as some patients may present with complex needs or have a language barrier.

This is an extremely busy service offering a wide range of treatments to a diverse group of people. We, fundamentally, offer urgent care triage/treatment to those in need but our clinics include Additional Needs Dentistry and Minor Oral Surgery, thus good time management skills are imperative.

Additional Working Pattern: 08:00-16.15 Mon & Fri

Should we receive a high number of applications we reserve the right to close this vacancy at any point after 2nd October 2026

Main duties of the job

The duties of the Receptionist are to maintain a professional and organised approach when greeting and attending to patients and visitors.

Answering telephone calls including the emergency and special care Dentistry lines booking appointments across five clinics.

Producing and maintaining patient files in a timely manner with attention to detail.

Booking and rescheduling diaries often at short notice.

Undertaking all administrative tasks in a timely and accurate manner.

Producing and maintaining patient files in a timely manner with attention to detail.

Cancelling and rescheduling clinics often at short notice.

Working for our organisation

Rated 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.

There's one reason why our services are outstanding - and that’s our amazing staff who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.

If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Reception/Appointment Book/Treatment.

Booking urgent care telephone triage appointments and treatment appointments, where appropriate.

Managing the waiting room, including greeting patients and advising them of any excessive delays.

Re-booking additional needs appointments or minor oral surgery appointments.

Maintain the appointment system to ensure that surgery time is utilised appropriately.

Distribute post accordingly.

Record referral/communication correspondence in the patient's notes and action accordingly.

File all letters/correspondence in the appropriate place.

Accurately prepare and maintain patient records.

Prioritise workload. You will be working within a team so it is imperative that you work proactively together to complete reception tasks meeting deadlines to enable the service to perform efficiently.

Maintain administrative systems to ensure good working practice.

Use judgemental and analytical skills to anticipate the needs of the patient.

Maintain the Reception area.

Making of appointments and taking telephone calls, interpreting as necessary the needs of both patients and clinicians enabling situations to be dealt with promptly and efficiently.

Most of our patients require a lot of emotional support to persuade them to accept treatment. It must be recognised that anxiety can often be displayed as aggression.

Knowledge of computer use is essential for input of patient data, payment transactions and other services.

Collection of charges as appropriate.

Cashing up/banking, recording all necessary details.

On occasions, work independently managing the department administration and giving appropriate advice when necessary.

Maintain patient confidentiality at all times.

Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.

Compliance with NHS code of conduct.

Attend appropriate meetings.

Encourage and motivate other team members.

Support others by sharing skills and knowledge of the job.

Person specification

Qualifiations and Training

• GCSE English and Maths Grade C and above

Experience

• Reception/Customer Care experience
• Experience of working with the general public
• Good communication skills both verbal and written
• Experience of answering telephone calls in a busy high volume call environment
• Post Holder must have a degree of experience in the field of Administration
• Post holder must have sound knowledge and experience of working within an NHS practice/organisation

Knowledge and Skills

• Effectively prioritises and co-ordinates own work
• Computer literate with excellent keyboard skills or experience with Microsoft packages
• Work flexibly as part of a team
• Good time management
• Has a realistic knowledge of personal strengths and areas for development
• Can demonstrate flexibility of approach

Equal Opportunities - We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. Additionally, people with disabilities that fall under the Disability Confident Scheme will be offered an interview providing they meet the minimum criteria for the post (outlined in the Person Specification). All sites are Smoke Free.

If you need this application in an offline format, please let us know.
Immigration Status - East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is a diverse employer and welcomes all job applications. However, potential applicants should note that although the Trust is registered with the Home Office as a sponsor organisation for migrant workers, sponsorship can only be offered against eligible roles. If you are an applicant from outside the UK and do not already hold a self-gained right to work, we recommend you check the Home Office eligibility requirements before making an application.

Please note: Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.

Our safe recruitment pre-employment checks are undertaken before an appointment is confirmed and may include a DBS check. Where the role requires you to drive, we'll ask you to validate your driving licence online via the DVLA.

Redeployment - Please note that in the first instance priority for this vacancy will be given to staff who are on the Trusts Redeployment Register.
Closing and Interview Dates -This vacancy may close early if sufficient applicants are received.

Data Protection - A privacy notice detailing how we will handle your data is attached to this advert as a document. Your application will be transferred to our recruitment management system (Trac) once the advert has closed and you will receive notification then detailing how Trac will handle your data.

ALL CORRESPONDENCE will be via the e-mail address on your application form. If you have not been invited to interview within 2 weeks of the closing date, you unfortunately haven't been successful on this occasion, but keep an eye on our vacancies as a job that's just right for you may appear!

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.