Portering Supervisor

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust; Bath; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Porting Supervisor to oversee the in-house portering team across the site. The role includes managing requests, supervising ~100 porters, and ensuring service continuity across 200+ clinical areas.

The post involves varied shifts (some late-night) on a 37.5-hour contract, with enhanced pay and weekend work. You will lead incident response and coordinate with the Portering Manager to maintain service quality.

Qualifications

• Has the relevant qualification or equivalent.
• Qualification OR 3 years experience with internal management training.
• Management qualification to level 5 with 3+ years experience.

Responsibilities

• Ensure efficient, high-quality portering across clinical and non-clinical areas.
• Record and prioritise portering requests via Portering Management Software.
• Monitor staff performance and provide on-the-job training as required.
• Liaise regularly with the portering manager regarding service issues.
• Lead in major incidents and follow Trust procedures.

Skills

Portering management

Staff supervision

UK driving licence

Education

Relevant qualification or equivalent

Job description

Porting Supervisor

Job Overview

This role is internal only for employees of the BSW group only (RUH Bath, SFT Salisbury, GWH Swindon). The Portering Services at Royal United Bath Hospitals are proudly provided by an In House Team of approximately 100 staff. The service operates 24/7 providing a portering service across site to the 200+ clinical areas.

Hours of Duty

The post holder will work the following varied shift patterns, with the occasional 10pm-6am shift to cover their colleagues when they are absent:

• 6am – 2pm
• 10pm – 6pm
• 2pm – 10pm
• 10pm – 6am

Contract is for 37.5 HOURS and does attract enhanced rates of pay and includes weekend working. Rotas for supervisors are issued 1 month in advance.

All time on Saturday (midnight to midnight) and any weekday after 8 pm and before 6 am - Time plus 36%.

All time on Sundays and Public Holidays (midnight to midnight) - Time plus 72%.

Working for our organisation

We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group - a formal partnership between the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.

We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.

By working together, we make a real difference for our patients, each other, and our community. Every role matters in delivering the exceptional, person‑centred care we’re proud of.

We’re committed to a compassionate, inclusive culture where kindness is championed, differences are valued, and diversity makes us stronger.

We want to support you to thrive, taking your career to its full potential. We prioritise staff wellbeing – and yes, we even have a pool!

Discover what it’s like to live and work in Bath, explore our RUH staff benefits, and learn how we’re building healthcare for the future through the Dyson Cancer Centre and our commitment to research.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• To ensure an efficient and effective high quality portering service is provided to all clinical and non-clinical departments.
• The receiving, recording, and issuing of prioritised portering requests to portering staff utilising the Portering Management Software System.
• To monitor portering staff performance and to provide on the job training for all portering staff as required.
• To liaise on a regular basis with the portering manager to discuss any issues arising from the provision of the portering service.
• Carry out general portering duties as described in the general porters job description.
• To be the lead person in the event of a major incident call i.e. traffic crash, explosion etc and follow the written down Trust procedures for portering.
• To be the lead person in the event of a major incident call, i.e. telecommunications failure i.e. telephones, bleeps etc do not work and follow the Trusts procedures for this incident.
• To deal promptly with any concerns, complaints or general enquiries with all levels of management, patients, staff or visitors.
• To operate telephones, pagers, bleeps and the Patient Flow portering management software system.
• To complete and file all relevant paperwork.
• To be actively involved in reacting to short notice of extra beds, trolleys to ensure that the government 4 hour waiting times target are met in the Emergency Department.
• To conduct audits of the portering service.
• To assist the portering manager with staff appraisals.
• Manage sickness absence of portering staff through routine return to work interviews and liaising with the portering manager.
• To initially investigate any conduct or capability issues and report findings to the manager.
• To ensure that all staff adheres to the correct appropriate emergency procedures at all times.
• To liaise on a regular basis with the portering manager to ensure the customers have the best use of the manpower.
• To be the responsible person for the changing of the medical gas manifold cylinders, in conjunction with the training of staff out-of-hours. To ensure that all equipment and appliances used by the department is in good working order.
• To assist the Emergency Department in ensuring that the government 4 hour targets are met, by transferring patients for them.
• To ensure that all incidents/accidents are reported and that the correct RUH Trust logging forms are used and correctly filled out.
• To maintain a high standard of appearance and ensure that the staff adhere to the Trusts policies and procedures on uniforms.
• To comply with the Trusts and departmental policies and procedures, local rules and working practices, including COSHH, statutory and local sick pay regulations, fire regulations, infection control, manual and patient handling, local radiation rules and departmental policies, also notifiable diseases.
• To be polite, helpful and respectful to all staff at all levels and to patients and visitors.
• To participate in all mandatory training, also any training subject to sphere of work.
• To collect deceased patients and take to the mortuary, following RUH Trusts written guidelines.
• To assist the coroners/funeral directors with BID patients.
• To assist the on-site manager out-of-hours in the process of viewing of deceased patients, following written protocols.
• To move furniture as requested throughout the RUH Trust site as per the computerised Patient Flow system.
• To ensure that all reasonable care and precautions are taken to prevent damage and/or accidents to staff, patients or visitors.
• To ensure that all staff work within and are aware of the RUH Trusts Policies and Procedures.
• Transport patients across the RUH site, using a Trust vehicle as required.
• To carry out general portering duties as per the general porter role.
• Assist the manager through meetings, discussions and forward planning:
  • Evaluating any recognised changes in the need for demand of the service
  • Implementation of recognised changes
  • Modification of work rosters or work patterns to reflect the changing requirements of the customers and clients.
  • Takes sole charge of the portering department out of hours.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

• Has the relevant qualification or equivalent
• Relevant qualification OR 3 years experience, with internal management training

Desirable criteria

• Management Qualifcation to level 5, and 3 years experience

FULL CLEAN DRIVING LICENCE

Essential criteria

• Possess a valid UK full clean licence

Desirable criteria

• Possess a valid UK full clean licence with C1 category

Man Management/Team Supervisory Experience

Essential criteria

• Must have had experience managing teams of 12 or more

Desirable criteria

• Experience in either healthcare or a complex service managing a team of 12 or more

Please note - Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered unless an alternative right to work solution can be provided. Candidates requiring sponsorship (or will need sponsorship at the end of a current visa e.g. those with graduate visa's) should review the eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying: Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK

Applicant Requirements

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.

Contact Details

For further enquiries, please contact: Mr Timm Schofield, Deputy Head of Facilities on Tel [phone] or via email on [e-mail].

Out of hours please leave a message - speak clearly with name and contact number.