Frailty Administration Assistant

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Sefton; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is inviting applications for a Frailty Administration Assistant based across Southport and Whiston Hospitals. You will be the first point of contact, handle appointments, and support clinical teams with data entry and patient records.

The role requires strong communication, good IT skills, and the ability to work under pressure in a busy frailty service, with driving to different Trust locations and a flexible approach to hours.

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE level or equivalent qualification.
• Previous clerical experience and ability to handle patient data.
• A good standard of IT literacy and experience with NHS systems.

Responsibilities

• Monitor appointments and manage patient scheduling and visits.
• Support frailty clinical staff and enter data into EMIS/Careflow.
• Compile and update waiting lists and manage diaries and communications.
• Assist with admin duties, minute taking, and correspondence as required.
• Liaise with wards, consultants, and community teams to coordinate care.
• Cover colleagues during sickness or leave and maintain confidentiality.

Skills

Communication skills

Computer literacy

Organisational skills

Time management

Education

GCSE level / NVQ Level 2 equivalent

Tools

EMIS

Careflow

Job description

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

Applications are invited from enthusiastic, hardworking, self-motivated and committed individuals to join our Frailty Department in both Southport and Whiston Hospitals.

The successful candidate will be the first point of contact for users of the service and must be friendly, helpful and have excellent communication skills with the ability to deal with sensitive and confidential information. Excellent computer literacy is essential but training will be given to become familiar with systems operated within this department.

The Frailty Administration Assistants will provide an administrative / operational service for Mersey & West Lancashire Trust and other external Trusts.

They will assist to co-ordinate the attendance/admissions of patients to the Virtual Frailty Ward/ Urgent Community Response at Southport, Whiston & St Helens Hospitals and for day case & out-patient procedures.

To provide an efficient, timely and patient focussed service to the Trust in order to support a high standard of clinical care to the patients.

There is a need to be able to work to and withstand the pressure of a 'busy' department and it is essential that you are able to work on your own initiative.

The successful candidate must have a flexible approach to their working hours and be able to drive/driver assisted.

Main duties of the job

To support the admin coordinator for the admission/attendance of patients on the Frailty Virtual ward / Urgent Community Response and other Frailty Service.

To support the clinical staff in coordinating appointments and community visits and ensuring up to date record keeping.

To support the admin coordinator in maintaining the data of the Frailty services and work between different Electronic Patient record Systems (EMIS/ Careflow) In so ensuring that an efficient, timely and patient focused service is provided, and the clinical needs of patients are met in accordance with the current operating framework and the NHS National Guidelines.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• Monitor appointments and ad hoc community visits.
• Support the frailty medical team and the Consultant Practitioner in their day-to-day work.
• Type follow up letters via dictation for the clinical team.
• Update EMIS / Careflow (and other potential future EPR systems) and spreadsheets with patients' data.
• Ad-hoc clerical duties to include participating in MDT, facilitating meeting, actions as appropriate.
• Support the admin coordinator who is responsible for organising patient attendance for Frailty Falls clinic ensuring that the diagnostic investigations are scheduled appropriately for clinical needs. This will involve telephoning and booking appointments using a number of computerised systems.
• To compile and update waiting lists for necessary diagnostics procedures. Monitor patient lists from Monitor referrals from the NHS e-referral system.
• Deal efficiently and effectively with telephone calls (patient, consultants, secretaries, GP's etc.). Ensuring confidentiality is strictly maintained and complying with Data Protection Act.
• Contact patient to offer appointments that are convenient, agree and book date and arrange for letter and appropriate literature to be sent to the patient.
• Ensure that all patients are offered a choice of date and time for their admissions with reasonable notice within the relevant NHS maximum waiting times.
• Telephone patients with details of cancellations/admissions when required.
• Cancel and re-arrange admissions/attendance as and when needed (via ward, consultant, patients etc.). Liaise with Team Leader and Administration Service Co-Ordinator over late cancellations and arrange any backfilling if appropriate.
• Ensure all cancelled day case admissions or out-patient attendances (both patients and hospital initiated) and DNAs are followed up and recorded efficiently.
• Provide general advice and guidance to patients and relatives on admissions/attendance.
• Inform wards, secretaries, consultants and the Frailty team of all arranged attendances or any changes/cancellations.
• Recording, accessing and updating Patient Information on Careflow and EMIS system in a timely and accurate manner.
• Cover colleagues in other Frailty Admin Services.
• When booking urgent patients, ensuring wards, TCI requirements, operational services, are aware of patient's attendance/admissions.
• Keep electronic diaries up to date.
• Liaise with all other staff - clerical, secretarial, wards, GP's, Community Nurses and other Clinical Staff.
• Use computer software/systems - word, excel, Emis/ Careflow / Careflow Connect.
• Maintain a safe environment within the workplace whilst adhering to Health and Safety policy.
• Cover colleague's sickness/annual leave when necessary.
• Ensure all up to date Trust and Departmental policies and procedures are adhered to.
• Performing all ad-hoc clerical duties as required i.e. E-mail, photocopying, typing and telephone calls.
• Ordering, organising and monitoring equipment for teams including EBME checks and equipment for new starters.
• Minute taking at meetings and typing up, typing up action plans.
• Typing up action plans.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure patient activity is recorded real time on relevant Trust Information System.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES

• Take part in Trust appraisal process, agreeing objectives and a personal development plan annually.
• As required, attend regular mandatory training and other training courses relevant to the job.

RESEARCH & AUDIT

• Participate in and assist in audits

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to GCSE level/NVQ Level 2 and/or equivalent qualification and/or experience
• NVQ 3 in Customer Care or equivalent knowledge through training and experience

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Previous clerical experience
• Able to deal with the public in person and via the telephone
• Management of patient appointments and staff diaries
• Experience of taking and typing minutes of meetings

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Previous NHS experience
• Experience of mentoring and training staff

Skills

Essential criteria

• Significant Word/ Excel skills
• Manage/prioritise own workload
• Ability to accurately maintain computerised and manual systems
• Ability to manage difficult/sensitive situations
• Time management skills
• Can work well under pressure, produce high quality work and remain calm in difficult situations
• Self-motivated and able to work with limited supervision
• Able to use own initiative and respond to new challenges
• Excellent communication skills

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to build and maintain good working relationships
• Able to work the hours and duties required by the post
• Ability to travel to various Trust locations by own car/driver assisted

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact