Community Receptionist

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people.

We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England. Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.

We welcome and encourage applications from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining a healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored.

The NHS receptionist role is a fast-paced and vital position acting as the face of the service crucial for ensuring patients can begin care with a welcoming and efficient experience. It is a highly varied and rewarding role that goes beyond typical office administration requiring strong multitasking, empathy and the ability to work under pressure in a bustling environment. As the first person a patient meets, you provide reassurance to nervous or upset individuals and directly impact their experience. This community post will be working across the Fylde Coast within different receptions in large primary care centres. The days of working are Monday, Thursday and Friday. The post holder will need a clean driver licence and vehicle.

Main duties of the job:

• Welcoming visitors, greeting patients’ carers and visitors in a friendly polite manner.
• Maintaining records and updating patient details on IT systems.
• Answering enquiry calls and resolving queries.
• Data handling, entering information into patients’ electronic records.

The skills desired include excellent interpretation skills to connect the patients and staff visitors, ability to prioritise tasks in a busy environment and work under pressure.

Please note this role will not be eligible for sponsorship as it doesn't meet the minimum salary requirements for a skilled worker visa, therefore you must have appropriate right to work in the UK or your application will not be progressed to the next stage of recruitment.

The Trust values are important to us and all staff should be caring, safe and respectful. NHS benefits from a pension scheme, one of the most generous in the UK. Generous annual leave plus bank holidays rising with the service. Wellbeing support and discounts enable staff to have access to occupational health services, counselling and a blue light card discount.

Any invitation to interview will be sent to the email account stated on your application form. If the role you have applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this as part of your pre-employment checks. Please note, you will be required to repay the cost on appointment. This will be collected via a salary deduction. You can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months from your salary or as a one-off payment on commencement in post. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £25.50, Standard DBS check £25.50 and Enhanced DBS check £53.50. You are encouraged where possible, to register for the DBS update service. This is an annual registration fee of £16. By registering for the update service you will not have the additional cost of repeated disclosures. Should you withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check. DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions.

By submitting an application for this vacancy you are confirming your agreement to the above in the event you are successfully appointed. The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here. Please ensure that you read the Person Specification attached below as your application will be judged against this.

Please note that every effort will be made to keep the vacancy live until the published closing date, though there may be instances where such interest is generated, that for administrative reasons the post may close earlier. Please note that in line with national NHS guidelines this Trust operates a strict non-smoking policy. Members of staff are not permitted to smoke on Trust premises or grounds at any time nor take breaks during working hours for the purposes of smoking.

The Trust does not offer interview expenses to shortlisted candidates unless indicated in the advert.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.