Patient Administrator

Job description

Job responsibilities

There are several different Band 3 Administrator roles throughout the Trust that you may be allocated to. Below is a brief description of the main responsibilities of these roles.

Ward Secretary

This is an excellent opportunity for an organised individual with attention to detail and proficiency in Microsoft Office, who is eager to collaborate with various nursing professionals and the wider multidisciplinary team (MDT). Full-time and part-time positions are available.

Main Responsibilities:

• Collaborate closely with ward leaders to provide administrative support in cancer care.
• Prepare documentation, communicate with stakeholders, and use Microsoft 365 to organise and schedule meetings on behalf of the Line Manager.
• Deliver exceptional customer service by providing a professional telephone service, taking accurate messages, and offering information and guidance as appropriate.

Patient Administrator

We are looking for highly motivated and proactive individuals to join our busy department as Patient Administrators. In this role, you will build strong relationships with consultants, administrative teams, nursing staff, and external providers, ensuring a smooth patient pathway through the department.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, along with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team, are essential. You will also provide cross-cover for other administrators to maintain consistent and effective administration services.

Working closely with your team of consultants, your duties will vary but will include direct communication with patients and healthcare professionals, arranging appointments, managing correspondence from outpatient clinics, and facilitating the flow of information among clinicians and support services. Full-time and part-time positions are available.

Main Responsibilities:

• Confidently use Microsoft systems, working with minimal supervision and demonstrating a tactful, sensitive approach to challenging situations.
• Exhibit empathy and excellent communication skills, acting as the first point of contact by handling telephone calls, emails, and visitors, by responding promptly and efficiently to queries, or redirecting them to the appropriate person/department.
• Thrive under pressure and prioritise your workload effectively. Collaborate with a large team, demonstrating flexibility in multitasking and covering for colleagues as needed. Communicate effectively with ward teams, matrons, divisional nursing staff, consultants, ward administrators, and patients.
• Familiarity with the Trust's electronic systems is advantageous but not essential, as training will be provided.

Patient Services Administrator

We approach our conversations with patients with compassion and respect, recognising that this is a particularly challenging time for them. We seek candidates who are empathetic and capable of handling difficult conversations.

If you are resilient and proactive, with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and respond to urgent requests from our stakeholders while meeting tight deadlines, we want to hear from you.

Effective communication with care groups is essential to inform them of any capacity issues or patients at risk of breaching, as well as attending weekly meetings and following the necessary escalation procedures.

This role requires close attention to detail and the ability to quickly assimilate information. Full-time and part-time positions are available.

Main Responsibilities:

The Outpatient Administrator Centre (OAC) staff are dedicated and hardworking, often serving as the first point of contact for patients. Their responsibilities include:

• Handling approximately 20,000 calls each month from patients.
• Booking over 650,000 outpatient appointments annually, across 50 specialties within the Trust.
• Managing clinic schedules, rescheduling, and cancelling appointments, and filling new clinic slots.
• Covering reception desks at all our locations, checking patients in, scheduling follow-up appointments, and addressing queries.
• Preparing patient packs for outpatient clinics.

Our service operates from 7am to 6pm - Monday to Friday and from 8am to 4:30pm on Saturdays.

You will be expected to work flexibly within these core hours.

There are roles across the Trust, including in care groups such as Surgery, Outpatient Administration Centre, Pharmacy, Cancer Care and more. Please indicate in your application if there is an area that you would be particularly interested in.

Person Specification

Qualifications, knowledge and experience

Essential

• Good standard of secondary education with literacy and numeracy skills demonstrable to GCSE pass level or equivalent standard.
• Either- Level 3 qualification in administration/ customer service or equivalent experience Or- Vocational Level 2 qualification in administration/customer service or an equivalent level of experience. And Experience as an administrator or secretary in an organisation with a customer focused environment And Able to use judgement to make decisions in order to solve problems/enquiries some of which are non-routine and not straight forward
• Knowledge and experience of secretarial or administrative procedures
• Experience as an administrator or secretary in an organisation with a customer focused environment
• Experience as an administrator or secretary in an organisation with a customer focused environment

Desirable

• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Courses / further study attended to demonstrate evidence of personal development
• Vocational Level 3 qualification in administration/word processing/typing or an equivalent level of experience
• Diploma level qualification or an equivalent level of experience
• Experience as a medical or patient services secretary linked to a clinical service or customer focused environment
• Proficient in the use of all hospital computerised patient systems
• Experience in understanding and analysing patient pathways
• Knowledge of both local and national targets relating to RTT and cancer pathways

Trust Values

Essential

• Patients First
• Working Together
• Always Improving

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust

Address

University Hospital Southampton

Tremona Road

Southampton

SO16 5YA

Employer's website

https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)