Medical Receptionist

NHS; Croydon; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Part time

Job summary

A healthcare practice in the UK seeks a Patient Adviser to serve as the first point of contact for patients. You'll provide exemplary front-desk service, manage patient queries, and support daily operations. The ideal candidate has strong communication skills and experience in customer service or administration. This role involves flexible working hours and offers £12.21 per hour.

Qualifications

• Experience of working in an administration role.
• Experience of working with the general public.
• Experience in a healthcare setting.

Responsibilities

• Provide a friendly and professional front-desk service.
• Handle patient enquiries in person and online.
• Process appointment bookings and cancellations.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Time management

Problem-solving skills

Interpersonal skills

Education

Excellent standard of education with excellent literacy and numeracy skills

Job description

Overview

At Thornton Road Surgery, our Patient Adviser team is the first point of contact for patients and visitors. They play a vital role in ensuring excellent patient care by providing a welcoming and professional reception service, handling all patient queries at the front desk, and managing day-to-day enquiries received through our online portal. The team is central to creating a positive patient experience and supporting the smooth running of the practice.

We appreciate the interest of all applicants in this opportunity. Please note that we may close this vacancy early if we identify a suitable candidate before the advertised closing date. We encourage interested applicants to submit their applications as soon as possible.

Main duties of the job

• Provide a friendly and professional front-desk service to all patients and visitors.
• Handle patient enquiries in person, over the phone, and via the online portal.
• Process appointment bookings, cancellations, and rescheduling requests.
• Assist patients with general enquiries about practice services and signpost them to appropriate healthcare professionals or external services.
• Manage and respond to patient queries submitted via the online portal.
• Process prescription requests, referrals, and other administrative forms.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records using the practice’s clinical system.
• Support with scanning, filing, and managing correspondence, ensuring data protection compliance.
• Assist in monitoring and actioning emails and tasks within the practice’s communication systems.
• Assist with the organisation and administration of QOF recalls, ensuring patients attend necessary reviews and screenings.
• Contact patients via phone, SMS, or letter to remind them of due appointments or health checks.
• Ensure accurate recording of QOF-related data to support practice targets and patient care quality.
• Provide administrative assistance to clinicians and practice staff as required.
• Support the practice in implementing new initiatives to improve patient care and service efficiency.
• Comply with NHS confidentiality and data protection policies.
• Adhere to all health and safety regulations within the practice.

About us

Bourne Health is the largest primary care provider in South West London, serving diverse communities across multiple GP surgeries. We are committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care, underpinned by innovation, community engagement, and operational excellence.

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Provide a friendly and professional front desk service to all patients and visitors.
• Handle patient enquiries in person, over the phone, and via the online portal.
• Process appointment bookings, cancellations, and rescheduling requests.
• Assist patients with general enquiries about practice services and signpost them to appropriate healthcare professionals or external services.

Administration & Online Portal Management

• Manage and respond to patient queries submitted via the online portal.
• Process prescription requests, referrals, and other administrative forms.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records using the practice’s clinical system.
• Support with scanning, filing, and managing correspondence, ensuring data protection compliance.
• Assist in monitoring and actioning emails and tasks within the practice’s communication systems.

QOF Recalls & Data Management

• Assist with the organisation and administration of QOF recalls, ensuring patients attend necessary reviews and screenings.
• Contact patients via phone, SMS, or letter to remind them of due appointments or health checks.
• Ensure accurate recording of QOF-related data to support practice targets and patient care quality.

General Support & Additional Duties

• Provide administrative assistance to clinicians and practice staff as required.
• Support the practice in implementing new initiatives to improve patient care and service efficiency.
• Comply with NHS confidentiality and data protection policies.
• Adhere to all health and safety regulations within the practice.
• This list is not exhaustive, and all team members should be prepared to accept additional, or surrender existing duties, to enable the efficient running of the organisation.

Your individual job plan will be agreed with your line manager. This will be subject to change in accordance with the needs of the organisation.

Key Relationships

Internal

• Members of the Senior Management team
• Colleagues within The Bourne Partnership

External

• Other GP practices and practice groups
• Other external organisations

The Patient Adviser is an integral part of the Practice Administration Team. The team provides the reception service for the practice and actions all general administration functions.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs will be agreed annually with your Line Manager, aligned to business needs. Key indicators include:

• Administrative actions from the Portal actioned within an agreed timeframe

This list is not exhaustive but a guide. KPIs will be set annually and reviewed regularly with your Line Manager depending on business need and person-specific requirements.

Confidentiality / Data Protection / Freedom of Information

Post holders must maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and other health service business in accordance with the Data Protection Act of 1998. Post holders must not, without prior permission, disclose any information regarding patients or staff. If any member of staff has communicated any such information to an unauthorised person, those staff will be liable to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. The Data Protection Act 1998 also renders an individual liable for prosecution in the event of unauthorised disclosure of information. Following the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2005, post holders must apply the organisation’s FOI procedure if they receive a written request for information.

Information Governance

All staff must comply with information governance requirements. These include statutory responsibilities (such as compliance with the Data Protection Act), following national guidance (such as the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice) and compliance with local policies and procedures (such as the Trust’s Confidentiality policy). Staff are responsible for any personal information (belonging to staff or patients) that they access and must ensure it is stored, processed and forwarded in a secure and appropriate manner.

Post holders must at all times fulfil their responsibilities with regard to The Bourne Partnership’s Equal Opportunities Policy and equality laws.

Health and Safety

All post holders have a responsibility, under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and subsequently published regulations, to ensure that The Bourne Partnership’s health and safety policies and procedures are complied with to maintain a safe working environment for patients, visitors and employees.

Infection Control

All post holders have a personal obligation to act to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). They must attend mandatory training in Infection Control and be compliant with all measures required to reduce HCAIs. All post holders must comply with the Partnership’s Infection Control Policies, including those that apply to their duties, such as Hand Decontamination Policy and Personal Protective Equipment Policy. Risk Management: All post holders have a responsibility to report risks such as clinical and non-clinical accidents or incidents promptly. They are expected to be familiar with The Bourne Partnership’s use of risk assessments to predict and control risk, as well as the incident reporting system for learning from mistakes and near misses in order to improve services. Post holders must also attend training identified by their manager or stated to be mandatory.

Flexible Working

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern and multiple sites so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

Safeguarding

Post holders have a general responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in the course of their daily duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.

Sustainability

It is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the environmental impact by recycling wherever possible, switching off lights, computers monitors and equipment when not in use, minimising water usage and reporting faults promptly.

The Bourne Partnership is committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for staff, patients and visitors. Staff are therefore not permitted to smoke on organisational property.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Excellent standard of education with excellent literacy and numeracy skills

Personal Qualities

• Polite and confident
• Flexible and co-operative
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Motivated and proactive
• Ability to use initiative and judgement
• Ability to work under pressure

Skills

• Excellent communication skills (written, oral and presenting)
• Ability to prioritise and work to tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Effective time management (planning and organising)
• Proven problem-solving and analytical skills

Other Requirements

• Maintain confidentiality at all times
• Flexibility to work outside of core office hours

Experience

• Experience of working with the general public
• Experience of working in an administration role
• Experience of working in a customer service-related role
• Experience of working in a healthcare setting

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£12.21 an hour