Receptionist - Patient Access

Transformation Unit; Sefton; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Training opportunities

Professional development

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Receptionist for the Access team at Southport District General Hospital. The role covers patient registration, appointment booking, and general reception duties within outpatient services.

Training and development opportunities are highlighted, with a focus on accuracy and patient care. The successful candidate will rotate across outpatient departments, maintain patient records, and provide a courteous telephone service while

Qualifications

• GCSE level or equivalent education.
• ECDL/Computer skills.
• NVQ2 in Customer Service or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Provide reception duties across outpatient departments and clinics.
• Manage patient appointments and maintain accurate records in the EDMS/Medway system.
• Deliver courteous telephone service and handle enquiries.
• Support with general admin tasks and ensure data confidentiality.

Skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Organisational skills

Telephone etiquette

Initiative

Education

GCSE level or equivalent

ECDL

NVQ 2 in Customer service

Job description

Main area Access Grade NHS AfC: Band 2 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 8.30am - 17.00) Job ref 409-8175060

Employer Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Southport Hospital Town Southport Salary £25,272 Per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 22/11/2026 23:59

Receptionist - Patient Access

NHS AfC: Band 2

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

Positions Available: 37.5hrs Monday- Friday between the hours of 8.30am - 5.00pm

We are looking to recruit a Receptionist within the Access team at Southport District General Hospital

Previous applicants need not apply.

The post holder will be responsible for the registration of patients, booking patient appointments, general reception duties, and any other administration duties. The learning and development opportunities are vast, we consider the department to be an innovative and creative environment.

Please be aware that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder will provide reception duties across the organisation rotating across various outpatient departments. The post holder will be responsible for the day to day running of reception desks across the Trust ensuring patients are booked into clinics, outcome forms reconciled and provide patients with follow-up appointments as necessary.
• The role requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills together with a professional manner using tact and diplomacy, adjusting style to meet barriers to communication.

We can offer you:

Excellent opportunities for professional development supported by our own programmers tailored to meet your needs.

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 Lancs, 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

The post holder will be responsible for:

• Ensuring that all patients attending for an out-patient clinic will be managed effectively and accurately at all times and all outcomes are completed daily following the appropriate work instructions.
• Reconcile clinics within 24 hours ensuring all outstanding actions are completed.
• Managing permanent and paper light health records as well as scanning where necessary into the EDMS system following the appropriate work instructions
• Preparing patient records for clinic following the appropriate work instructions.
• Collecting patient records at the end of clinic and communicate with the scanning team following the appropriate work instructions.
• Checking all new patients’ overseas status on arrival at clinic.
• Booking patients into Medway System on arrival at clinic and ensuring all demographic data is checked and updated in notes and on Medway.
• If patients information changes print new ID labels and ensure any old labels are destroyed confidentially.
• Rebooking patients into further appointments or onto the relevant review lists.
• Assist with general administrative tasks including filing, photocopying, opening and sorting of incoming mail and processing in accordance with departmental procedures.
• Provide a courteous and efficient telephone service to patients ensuring a timely response to telephone enquiries, escalating when necessary.
• Resolve issues with patient appointments and elevate as necessary.
• Accurate recording of information.
• Training of staff within the boundaries of own skills and knowledge
• Take personal responsibility for the quality of work undertaken and to contribute towards service improvements.
• Follow the approved Standard Operating Procedures used in the Department (work instructions).
• Use and maintain resources efficiently and effectively

Our Values

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE level or equivalent experience
• European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL)
• NVQ 2 in Customer service

Knowledge and Experience

• Good knowledge of Administrative Systems
• Previous NHS experience
• Experience of dealing with customers
• Experience of dealing with complaints
• Knowledge of Medway or other Patient Administrative System

Skills

• Ability to move case notes as required
• Ability to use own initiative when dealing with patient enquiries
• Good organisational skills
• Ability to prioritise own workloadAbility to recognise and solve problems and identify when further advice is required
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to use tact and diplomacy.
• Detail oriented and able to meet deadlines
• Good understanding of confidentiality
• Good verbal and written communication and telephone skills

Other

• Frequent requirement to move patient case notes throughout the day
• Ability to concentrate when taking patient details at the reception desk or over the phone throughout the day
• Occasional requirement to deal with distressed patients
• Use of VDU continuously throughout the course of the shift

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.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed.

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 are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [e-mail]

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

Enrolment for the DBS Update Service will incur a small annual fee of £13 per year.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

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.