Switchboard Operator

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 25,000; Full time

Job summary

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Telephonist for Blackpool Teaching Hospital to provide a 24/7 comprehensive telecommunications service. The role involves rotating shifts, including nights, weekends and public holidays, and working as a lone worker at times.

You will respond to switchboard inquiries, route calls, record emergencies, operate radio and bleep systems and support patients, staff and the public with accurate information while maintaining confidentiality and high

Qualifications

• High standard of general education in Math and English (GCSE or equivalent).
• Proven customer service experience in a fast paced environment.
• Experience in Switchboard or Call Centre in a target driven setting.
• Experience dealing with frustrated/aggressive customers.

Responsibilities

• Receive and extend incoming calls to destinations across the telecoms network.
• Receive and record all emergency calls and document responses.
• Operate the radio and bleep systems and manage diverts as required.
• Ensure accurate handovers and maintain continuity of service at shift changes.
• Provide out-of-hours support for taxi bookings and liaison with external services.

Skills

Math & English

Customer service

Switchboard / Call Centre

Dealing with difficult customers

Education

NHS experience

Tools

Pager systems

Radio systems

Job description

To assist in the provision of a Comprehensive Telecommunications service to the Blackpool Hospitals. The Telephonist post will be based at the Blackpool Teaching Hospital and you will be required to participate in a rotational shift pattern covering 24-hors/day and 365 days/annum including nights, weekends and public holidays. You will be required to work as a lone worker when covering the evening and night shift. Flexibility is essential as you may be required to change duties or work at short notice to cover for absences and holidays. We are looking for highly motivated and experienced individual to join our well-established team of Telephonists. The team provides a service to both the Trust members and general public , 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. Within Switchboard there is strong team environment but you will also be required to work as a lone worker when covering the evening and night shift. Flexibility is essential as you may be required to change or work at short notice to cover for absences and holidays., Telephone operators assist in the provision of a comprehensive Telecommunications service to the Blackpool Hospitals., The role is to respond to switchboard enquiries and queries from suppliers, staff and patients to provide assistance and advice as and where required. Provide 24-hour flexibility (which from time to time will include the night shift) to cover for colleague's annual leave and sickness absences and meet the requirements of the service. Receive and extend incoming calls to their relevant destination across the Telecoms network. Receive and record all emergency calls. Provide external telephone access for users across the telecoms network. Ensure that all personal telephone calls are monitored and accurately documented. Transfer internal callers to extensions across the telecoms network. Operate the radio system in accordance with guidelines. Operate the bleep system. Understand the process for faulty bleeps and changing batteries. Divert-undivert bleeps and ensure it is documented correctly. Ensure individual operator performance targets laid down in the operator's guide are consistently met. Ensure comprehensive and accurate handover of relevant information takes place at the commencement and end of each shift to maintain continuity of service. Provide assistance and work within the trusts guidelines to deal effectively with patients/callers who may have speech, language or cultural differences. Ensure that a calming, sensitive approach is applied to those callers who are distressed i.e. suicidal or very aggressive. Respond to all emergency calls (major incident, obstetric emergency, cardiac arrest, bomb alert etc) and instigate all relevant documented procedures, in and out of hours. Instigate daily test calls to personnel programmed into emergency teams. Document all responses. Highlight any issues resulting from these test calls. Compile daily medical rota's for each specialty including medical management, executive personnel and emergency teams, identify any inaccuracies which may come to light during the course of the day and highlight to relevant personnel. Ensure Rota' changes are accurate and legible. Ensure the completed daily Rota and any additional amendments are distributed to relevant departments. Assist with the task of updating the console database with new/amended information. Staff to rotate console positions in order to fulfil all roles within the Department. Perform reception duties (where necessary) and deal effectively with all enquiries. Attend Departmental staff meetings. Provide an out of hour's service for the distribution and accurate recording of information relating to accommodation keys and on call rooms. Deal with queries relating to this service. Provide assistance to members of the public and other health care professions in relation to Community Services. Provide an out of hour's service for the ordering of taxi's. Ensure precise instructions are issued to the taxi operators and also make them aware of when taxis are required in response to emergency situations. Ensure accurate documentation in relation to this service. Monitor all medical gas/intruder/personal attack alarms. Instigate relevant documented procedures. Ensure rota changes and information relating to chaplaincy and mortuary arrangements are accurately documented. Provide a proffessional, efficient admission and transfer service to GP's and other agencies. Ensure the call is directed to the relevant specialty. Provide patient location information to general public and outside agencies, following current confidentiality guidelines. To keep all work areas clean and tidy and be responsible for the cleaning of all screens and keyboards as required. Participate in, and successfully complete competency/training program for new staff. To undertake any other duties that may be required appropriate to the post holders' grade, experience.

• High standard of general education in Math's and English (GCSE or equivalent), Proven customer service experience, gained through working within a fast paced environment.
• Experience in dealing with the public and dealing and coping with difficult situations
• Experience of working on a Switchboard or Call Centre in a target driven environment
• Experience in dealing with frustrated/aggressive customers

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in an NHS or similar environment
• Experience using pager systems, mobile phone platforms and radio systems.
• Must have basic literacy and numeracy skills.
• Excellent communication and listening skills.
• Excellent client care and customer service skills both on the telephone and face to face.
• Proven ability to work under pressure and deal with emergency situations
• Be able to communicate with all personnel.
• Ability to quickly assess resolve and forward enquires.
• Ability to accurately record data.
• Ability to work on own initiative without Supervision
• Ability to manage own workload and conflicting demands.
• Ability to work to laid down procedures.
• Ability to use ICT effectively.
• A need to promote a positive working culture by demonstrating positive behaviors
• Ability to work on a diverse range of duties and task in a busy and challenging area.

Desirable criteria

• Able to understand NHS Terminology

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

One LSC stands for 'One Lancashire and South Cumbria' because there is one team serving Lancashire and South Cumbria in a joined-up way. It is run by the five Trusts as a collaborative partnership. The Trusts that make up One LSC are:

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

The core principles of One LSC are: by bringing services more closely together we can deliver the best service possible, eliminate duplication, ensure value for money, work across different organisations to benefit from being able to share common systems and processes.

The Trust is an equal opportunities employer, committed to improving the working lives of our staff and operates a 'Zero Tolerance' policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment. In addition, our aim is to help protect children and vulnerable adults by providing a first-class service to the recruitment of people into positions of trust. We aim to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability or social background. We especially welcome applications from members of our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, as we have identified that ELHT has an under-representation of BAME employees. Appointments will be made on merit.

It is important you are made aware of the following as regards your application to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Please note that the salary advertised is for full time hours. If this post is less than 37.5 hours per week, the salary will be pro-rata. For posts on Agenda for Change pay-scales, new entrants to the NHS will normally commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.
• This vacancy may close before the closing date if the recruiting manager deems sufficient applications have been received. Therefore it is advised to complete your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
• Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
• Please note that shortlisting is completed anonymously with candidates being assessed against the essential criteria for the post. Therefore only applicants, who can clearly demonstrate how they meet our person specification criteria in their application, will be short-listed.
• Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) If the role you are applying for is identified as either controlled or regulated activity as defined in in the Safeguarding vulnerable Groups Act (2006) any offer of employment is provisional upon a satisfactory DBS check being obtained. The healthcare sector is exempted from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. In line with other NHS organisations in the North West Region, the Trust is now passing the charge for undertaking a DBS check on to candidates in the event they are successfully appointed into the post for which they have applied. Candidates can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months as a deduction from the monthly salary. However, if you are applying for a post as a BANK worker, the payment must be made in full at the time of employment checks. By applying for this vacancy you are agreeing to this undertaking in the event you are successfully appointed. The cost of an Enhanced Disclosure will be £55.38 and for a Standard Disclosure will be £27.38.