Receptionist (Patient Navigator)

Spring Hill Practice; Royal Borough of Greenwich; On-site; GBP 15,000 - 21,000; Part time

Job summary

Spring Hill Practice in Greenwich is seeking a friendly receptionist to join a busy team serving about 17,500 patients. You will handle front-desk duties, greet patients, manage calls, and support admin tasks. Flexible shifts; 30 hours per week across a rota, with some weekend work.

Candidates should have good communication, IT and data entry skills, and be reliable and punctual. The role requires adaptability to a busy GP environment.

Qualifications

• Ability to provide high level of service to patients and staff.
• Good communication skills and friendly approach.
• Strong IT and data entry skills; able to work under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Greet patients and act as first point of contact.
• Manage phone calls, messages and appointments.
• Support clinical and admin staff with documentation and filing.
• Process inquiries and provide information to patients.
• Maintain reception area and ensure security and privacy.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

IT skills

Data entry

Job description

We are a busy practice of about 17,500 patients in North EastHackney. We are looking for a new Receptionist to join our existing team. This post is for a flexible team member who will work shifts allocated on a weekly basis between our opening hours to suit the needs of the practice. The practice is open: Mondays-Fridays:8am-8pm,Sundays:10am-4pm . The successful applicant will need to be available to work variable shifts between 8am - 8pmand must be able to be flexible as required to work the 30 hours across the week - please bear this in mind when applying as it is a requirement of the post.

Applicantsmust be flexible and be prepared to work overtime when other members of theteam are on leave. You will be the first point of contact for patients, providinginformation, help and support to patients.

You will need good communicationskills, a friendly and helpful approach, good IT and data entry skills, anability to work in a busy environment under pressure, and you will need to bereliable and punctual. Contracts will initially be on a 6 month probationperiod with a view to a permanent contract thereafter. This role requires shiftwork on a rota basis to cover core hours - working patterns will include 8am - 2pm and 2pm - 8pm and possibly weekends so you must be willing to work theseshifts and only apply if you can commit to full time hours of 30 hours perweek.

Main duties of the job

To provide and maintain a high level of service toboth practice staff and patients

To ensure effective communication betweenreception staff and clinicians, in particular when patients are distressed or unwell

To ensure that an effective and efficient reception service is provided topatients and any other visitors to the practice

To answer telephone enquiries,take messages and maintain good communication processes within the practice

Totake and relay messages and information correctly for all surgery staff

Toprovide patients with all appropriate information regarding services providedin the practice

To promote a positive image to visitors and callers bymaintaining a high standard of personal appearance and attitude and by dealingwith enquiries in a professional and polite manner

To greet and direct patientsappropriately to the correct service

About us

This 4 partner, APMS (AlternativePersonal Medical Services) has a steadily growing list size of c. 17500 patients. The practice merged in recent years with another local practice andhas undertaken extensive change, including a relocation to its present locationon Stamford Hill. The practice has a clear vision to deliver high quality care.The practice has a very good reputation for patient care and accessibility. Thepractices are committed to high quality care, with consistently high Qualityand Outcomes Framework (QOF) achievement and have clear vision and very goodreputations. The practice is an equal opportunities employer. There is a strongteam ethos within the practices and it is very important to the partners thatthis is maintained and developed. The practices are very comfortable places ofwork, with good teams of friendly staff. There is a relaxed atmosphere at thesurgery and the environment is very pleasant to work in.

Job responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

The duties and responsibilities to be undertakenby members of the practice administration team may include any or all of theitems in the following list. Duties maybe varied from time to time under the direction of the Reception Manager, DeputyPractice Manager, Operations manager or Practice manager, dependent on currentand evolving practice workload and staffing levels:

PatientNavigation Front and back reception

• Putting the needs of patients first at alltimes.
• Opening up and locking-up of Practice premisesand maintaining security in accordance with Practice protocols.
• Making, changing and cancelling appointmentsfor patients.
• Maintaining and monitoring the Practiceappointments system
• Processing requests for home visits andtelephone consultations.
• Ensuring those requesting appointments aredirected to the appropriate healthcare professional for their specificmedical problem.
• Scanning of incoming documents accurately andin a timely manner into the patient records.
• Processing and distributing incoming (andoutgoing) post/mail
• Accessing the practice NHS email account andprocessing emails.
• Issuing repeat prescriptions according topractice guidelines.

To provide and maintain a highlevel of service to both practice staff and patients;

• To ensureeffective communication between reception staff and clinicians, inparticular when patients are distressed or unwell;
• To ensure that an effective and efficient reception service isprovided to patients and any other visitors to the practice;

To keep accurate and detailed recordsof petty cash transactions;

To receive cash payments from patients and record appropriately in the receipt book;

• To advise patients of relevant charges for private (non GeneralMedical Services) services, accept payment and issue receipts for same.

To ensure all item of service claimsare made correctly and appropriately;

• Taking messages and passing on information.
• Filing and retrieving prescriptions, paperworkand medical records when required.
• Assisting patients with registering at thepractice, completing applications to register accurately and addingdetails accurately on the spine.
• Telephoning patients when requested to invitethem in for review.
• Responding to requests from patients, otherteam members and other healthcare providers.
• Sharing in the running of the reception meeting, on occasion chairing, taking minutes and filing minutes forfollow up of actions.
• Providing clerical assistance to the teamincluding filing, photocopying and scanning.

To attend relevant training,when required;

To adhere to practice policies,local and national guidelines.

Administration support

• To manage QOFchronic disease recalls and book appointments for patients in line withcontractual requirements. Ensuringpatients attend appointments.
• Maintain up to datediary entries so patients are recalled at appropriate intervals in linewith Practice protocols
• To provideadministrative support to all members of the Practice team includingrunning searches, sending appointment letters, phoning patients.
• Assigning andmonitoring of pathology results and documents.
• Process eyescreening results via EMIS template ensuring practice meets KPI target.
• Work closely withthe GP IT lead and Practice Manager to design and develop new searches,protocols, and templates for use in the Clinical IT system (EMIS Web).
• To process e-referral for patients and book appointment for them

Medical recordssupport

• Photocopying insurance medicals and reports, and maintainingrecords and files thereof
• To establish and maintain filing andadministrative systems so that written or computer information is easilyaccessible and secure.
• To retrieve medical records and assist thecompletion of medical/insurance records.
• File patient records and correspondence inpatient medical records.

Cullingand sorting patient records and letters in preparation for summarising

• Reviewing medical records and producing anaccurate summary of the patients medical history.
• Filing and retrieving paperwork
• Tosort and distribute accordingly any correspondence and records received inthe weekly delivery from Primary Care Support England (PCSE)
• Toensure medical records requested for return to PCSE are retrieved anddealt with in the appropriate manner
• Sort and datestamp all incoming patient-related mail.
• Scanpatient-related documents onto their medical record using read codes asagreed by the clinical team
• Add anyadditional information about the source of the document
• Forward thedocument to the EZ Doc coder or to the Dr or person who is mostappropriate to receive the information following agreed procedures
• Ensureincoming letters are scanned onto the patient record within agreedtimescales
• Scan allinternal paper documents on to the relevant patients record and thenstore the documents in line with surgery procedures.

Scanning to include Coding

• Identifyrelevant clinical information contained in patient correspondence
• Code or freetext the clinical information on to the patient record
• Deal withqueries relating to coding
• Ordering, re-ordering and monitoring ofstationery and other clinical and cleaning supplies
• Clearing and re-stocking of consulting roomsas required/requested
• Dealing with clinical waste
• Provision of refreshments for staff andvisitors as required; loading and emptying the dishwasher and keeping thekitchen area clean and tidy
• Keeping the reception area, notice-boards andleaflet dispensers tidy and free from obstructions and clutter
• To open up premises at the start of the day when first to arrive,de-activate alarm and make all necessary preparations to receive patients;
• When last to leave at the end of the day, to ensure that thebuilding is totally secured, internal lights are off and the alarmactivated.
• Turn off lights and air conditioning units

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to GCSE O level or equivalent.
• NVQ in customer care
• Trained in the use of Clinical systems used in General Practice and Microsoft packages

Experience

• Experience of office and admin/clerical work.
• Experience of reception duties.
• Experience of working with clinical staff.
• Experience of working within the NHS or other health care 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.