Senior Patient Triage Specialist – NHS Call Handling

Penrose Health; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Penrose Health in London is seeking an experienced Senior Call Handler to join the patient triage team at London Bridge. You will manage high-volume calls and emails, triage to the right service or clinician, and ensure safe, timely responses.

You will own follow-up work, coordinate appointments, and maintain patient records, working with clinical and Contact Centre teams to resolve issues with minimal supervision in a busy NHS-adjacent environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a call handling, contact centre, healthcare administration or comparable patient- or customer-facing role.
• A track record of managing your own workload and making sound decisions with minimal oversight.
• The confidence to take charge of a problem, determine the right course of action and see it through to resolution.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to build trust quickly with people from all walks of life.
• Poise and professionalism under sustained pressure.

Responsibilities

• Taking full ownership of every patient query from first contact through to resolution, accountable for the outcome and driving it to a satisfactory conclusion
• Working autonomously, managing your own workload and priorities and making confident decisions without day-to-day direction
• Resolving complex, ambiguous or non-standard queries independently, and judging for yourself when escalation is genuinely required
• Mentoring and supporting junior call handlers, offering guidance, advice and practical support to help them develop their skills and confidence
• Exercising clinical-safety judgement to triage a high volume of patient contacts, determining the right service, clinician and level of urgency for each
• Serving as the authoritative first point of contact, providing reassurance and clear direction, including to patients who are distressed or in complex circumstances
• Safeguarding the accuracy and integrity of patient records on clinical systems (e.g. EMIS), to a high standard of documentation and governance
• Acting as a key link between the Contact Centre and clinical teams, coordinating care pathways and anticipating issues before they escal
• Upholding NHS data protection and confidentiality standards, handling sensitive information with discretion
• Applying and continually developing your knowledge of NHS services, care pathways and medical terminology to sharpen triage accuracy
• Contributing to service quality and performance across the Contact Centre, sharing good practice and helping to raise standards.

Skills

Call handling

Contact centre

Healthcare admin

Communication skills

Customer-facing

Job description

Penrose Health in London is seeking an experienced Senior Call Handler to join the patient triage team at London Bridge. You will manage high-volume calls and emails, triage to the right service or clinician, and ensure safe, timely responses.

You will own follow-up work, coordinate appointments, and maintain patient records, working with clinical and Contact Centre teams to resolve issues with minimal supervision in a busy NHS-adjacent environment.