Specialist Booking Officer, Band 3- Central Booking Office

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS pension

Flexible working

On-site nurseries

Discounts

Job summary

The Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is hiring a Specialist Booking Officer (Band 3) for the Central Booking Office on a 24-hour-per-week contract. You will provide a county-wide outpatient appointment booking service, monitor referrals, and coordinate clinic capacity to meet wait-time targets.

Responsibilities include managing clinic rescheduling, handling waiting lists, and communicating with GPs and consultants to balance capacity and clinical priorities.

Qualifications

• RSA3 keyboard skills and accurate data entry.
• Proficient IT skills with MS Office and bespoke booking systems.
• Experience within NHS or similar healthcare booking environments.

Responsibilities

• Provide county-wide outpatient appointment booking service.
• Monitor referrals and manage wait-time targets.
• Oversee clinic rescheduling to meet capacity needs.
• Manage waiting lists and track capacity across sites.
• Coordinate with GPs and consultants on capacity adjustments.
• Ensure data accuracy and timely reporting to management.

Skills

RSA3 keyboard skills

MS Office proficiency

NHS experience

Education

GCSE English and Maths

Job description

Current jobs at Gloucestershire Hospitals

Specialist Booking Officer, Band 3- Central Booking Office

Band 3

Main area Central Booking Office Grade Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 24 hours per week (Shift pattern can be worked over 4 or 5 days however must include a Monday & Friday) Job ref 318-26-T0660

Site Gloucestershire Royal Hospital Town Gloucester Salary £25,760 - £27,476 (pa, pro rata if part-time) Salary period Yearly Closing 25/10/2026 23:59

At Gloucestershire Hospitals, our people are at the heart of everything we do. As the county’s largest employer, we are proud to provide high-quality acute, elective, and specialist services to more than 650,000 people across our county. Our care is delivered across Gloucestershire Royal, Cheltenham General and Stroud Maternity Hospital.

With over 9,000 employees representing more than 95 nationalities, bringing together a mix of cultures and experiences to the care that we deliver. Whether you’re beginning your NHS journey or looking to take the next step in your career, this is an exciting time to join us. We’re investing heavily in innovation, research, and transformation, with more than 100 active clinical studies and major developments underway across our hospitals.

We take pride in working as one team, driven by a shared ambition to grow, develop, and continually improve. Every contribution is valued and by combining our collective strengths, we support not only our diverse communities but one another. You can expect a warm, supportive culture and colleagues who are passionate about teamwork, professional development and delivering exceptional care. We offer structured development programmes, mentoring and leadership opportunities to help you progress in your career.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from a comprehensive package that includes flexible working opportunities, generous annual leave, the NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, local discounts, access to on-site nurseries, reduced public transport costs, reward and recognition schemes and a wide range of health and wellbeing initiatives.

Be part of Gloucestershire Hospitals, explore your future with us today.

Job overview

Specialist Booking Officer, Band 3- Central Booking Office (24 hours a week)

Provide a county-wide outpatient appointment booking service for patients and clinicians, ensuring adherence to wait time targets and optimal use of available capacity.

Monitor referrals, identify issues, and take appropriate actions to ensure efficient referral management.

Manage clinic rescheduling, prioritising clinical needs, and liaising directly with services or consultants to address capacity challenges.

Oversee follow-up appointments via waiting lists, ensuring clinical priorities are consistently maintained.

Make informed decisions on adjusting template capacity to balance clinical priorities with wait time targets.

Deliver a supportive and responsive service tailored to individual patient needs, particularly for those facing barriers to understanding.

Ensure accurate and timely data collection, and advise the management team on capacity imbalances, suggesting potential solutions where necessary

Shift pattern can be worked over 4 or 5 days however must include a Monday & Friday

Main duties of the job

Advanced, fast, and accurate keyboard skills equivalent to RSA Level 3.

Ability to understand and work within the established guidelines and procedures of the booking office.

Proficient in analysing information and making decisions where multiple options are available.

Intermediate IT skills with adaptability to the systems used by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Knowledge and experience in managing waiting lists, Patient TrackingLists (PTLs), and meeting both local and national waiting time targets.

Familiarity with medical terminology and tests/investigations related to the specialty.

Emotionally resilient, capable of handling distressing situations and managing challenging behaviours.

Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and manage workload independently without supervision.

Capable of maintaining prolonged focus in a noisy and distracting environment.

A collaborative team player with the ability to train and support new team members.

Working for our organisation

We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.

With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

The Central Booking Office (CBO) comprises over 75 staff, including Management, Lead Supervisors, Supervisors, Booking Specialists and the Admin & Phone team. Upon completion of training, there may be an opportunity to join the hybrid working rota.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Monitor and manage waiting lists efficiently, ensuring compliance with Trust and clinical targets across all county-wide sites.

Maintain and oversee the e-RS system to ensure data accuracy, promptly identifying and resolving any system errors.

Provide patients, relatives, and carers with a supportive, informative, and efficient service.

Optimise county-wide clinic capacity through effective management, including adjusting clinic schedules to balance new and follow-up appointments within clinical and wait time constraints.

Allocate specialty capacity effectively, considering the clinical abilities and specialisms of the team, making decisions to balance capacity and demand for optimal resource use.

Use expertise to supply service managers with timely information on capacity shortfalls, offering recommendations and solutions for reallocation where needed.

Ensure prompt and efficient processing of referral letters, liaising with GPs and consultants as required.

Manage the timely and accurate cancellation and rescheduling of clinics and appointments.

Identify and elevate issues in internal and external processes that could impact the work of the Central Booking Office (CBO) to the appropriate team members.

Adhere to various CBO and Trust-wide policies and procedures.

Use tact and persuasive communication to encourage attendance for procedures, particularly with patients who may be anxious, distressed, or hold negative perceptions.

Assess incoming inquiries or unexpected events, determining appropriate and timely actions, including booking appointments as necessary.

Prioritise and manage own workload to ensure all tasks are completed within required timeframes.

Undertake any additional duties relevant to the role as directed by the Line Manager.

Provide departmental coverage during periods of absence or annual leave

Person specification

Qualifications

• Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent
• Professional customer care skills equating to NVQ level 3

Experience

• NHS experience
• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Experience of working in customer care/ call centre environment

Knowledge/ Skills

• Good communication skills, written and verbal
• Good IT skills and a high level of proficiency in Microsoft office
• Excellent organisational skills
• Keyboard skills equivalent to RSA 3
• Ability to learn various IT systems and use them alongside each other
• Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

You will only be contacted by the Recruitment Team via email if you are shortlisted for this post. Please ensure therefore that you check your e-mail account regularly.

IMPORTANT: If you require sponsorship in order to apply for this role, eligibility is subject to your individual circumstances ie. current/previous visa status and the relevant salary threshold. We cannot make that assessment for each individual at this stage, therefore we advise those that may require sponsorship to ensure they have self assessed and thoroughly understood their eligibility using the Home Office guidance here - UK Visas and Immigration - GOV.UK

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