Patient Services Coordinator in Somerset

As a Patient Services Coordinator you will play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of the front desk and administrative functions within the Practice. You will work in a fast-paced environment and communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders. This role is one of the most important in the practice, providing the link between patients and clinicians and taking responsibility for ensuring a positive experience for our patients.

Main duties of the job

• Create a welcoming and friendly environment for patients when they are in the surgery, by overcoming communication barriers and treating patients with compassion and respect.
• Create and manage AskmyGP requests through active signposting.
• Registering new regular and temporary patients, in accordance with Practice guidelines.
• Co-ordination of electronic patient records, updating with clinical documents and any action taken regarding patient care.
• Ensuring accuracy of clinical documents/referrals and transmitting appropriately, whilst complying with local and national referral guidelines.
• Manage incoming post and documentation, coding documents and ensuring follow up actions are complete.
• Become a Shift Leader for the team once per week, with duties including allocating tasks to admin team members, scheduling break times to ensure adequate cover, and taking responsibility for the effective completion of work during the shift.

About us

At Glastonbury Health Centre, we pride ourselves on taking a holistic approach to health and well being. By combining the advances of health care with the core values of the traditional local doctor, we aim to provide a comprehensive, personal, and faithful General Practice service. We have just around 6,100 patients and the clinical and administrative teams work hard to preserve the excellent core values of General Practice. We are also a training practice for GP Registrars who work under supervision, learning the complexity and breadth of General Practice, whilst training to become GPs.

Job responsibilities

As a Patient Services Coordinator you will play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of the front desk and administrative functions within the Practice. You will work in a fast-paced environment and communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders. This role is one of the most important in the practice, providing the link between patients and clinicians and taking responsibility for ensuring a positive experience for our patients.

Job duties

• Become a Shift Leader responsibilities to include:

• Allocating incoming AskmyGP requests.
• Acting as a point of contact for clinicians with queries.
• Ensuring all bookable appointments available are utilised on the day.
• Allocating tasks to admin team members (for example emails, tasks, rescheduling appointments).
• Scheduling break times to ensure adequate cover, if necessary.
• Check CCAS slots on EMIS and creating askmyGP requests for patients who have been booked in by OOH.
• Take responsibility for the effective completion of work during the shift, escalating any challenges to senior management.
• Handover to the next shift leader (morning shift only).
• Ensuring urgent requests and lock-up is completed (afternoon shift leader only).
• Supporting the creation and introduction of administrative protocols and inspiring positive change to maximise efficiency.
• Contribute to key quality improvement projects and new initiatives to promote continuous improvement, achieve practice objectives and provide patients with the most effective care.
• Represent the Patient Services team at Practice and PCN MDT huddles.
• Actively participating in the leadership and training of administrative team members. This may include attending additional training courses and staying up to date with general practice protocols.
• Display flexibility to adapt and take on new responsibilities as and when they arise in line with the Practice development plans.
• Display flexibility and willingness to take on new duties from day to day in line with practice workload.
• Be open to change and professional development, learning new skills and participating in training courses.

Reception and Patient Relations

• Create a welcoming and friendly environment for patients when they are in the surgery, by overcoming communication barriers and treating patients with compassion and respect.
• Create and manage AskmyGP requests through active signposting. Supporting to source the best possible care at the optimal time, whether that be from another provider or within the practice.
• Liaise with patients through a variety of communication channels, to resolve queries and signpost them to the most appropriate service.
• Registering new regular and temporary patients, in accordance with Practice guidelines.
• Requesting repeat prescriptions on behalf of patients, in line with relevant protocols.
• Work closely with the clinicians to ensure that patient care runs seamlessly through every area of the surgery.
• Co-ordination of electronic patient records, updating with clinical documents and any action taken regarding patient care.
• Management of paper medical records, including organising and maintaining the filing system as well as retrieving paper records when required, whilst upholding Data Protection and Patient Confidentiality regulations.
• Ensuring accuracy of clinical documents/referrals and transmitting appropriately, whilst complying with local and national referral guidelines.
• Liaising with outside organisations, such as secondary and community care providers, to ensure continuity of care whilst upholding the reputation of the practice.
• Support the Data Manager and QOF team in achieving key targets by booking appointments and managing patient invitations for services.
• Manage incoming post and documentation, coding documents and ensuring follow up actions are complete.

Person Specification

• Experience of working as part of a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Previous experience of working in a similar role within a Primary Care setting.
• Experience of working in an environment which is governed by a large range of internal and external policies that have an impact on the day to day running of the organisation.
• Experience of using clinical systems such as EMIS and askmyGP.

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with patients, clinicians and external healthcare providers over the telephone, face‑to‑face and via email.
• The ability to manage time effectively and be able to work on several tasks at once, prioritising the most important to achieve the best outcomes for our patients.
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail.
• Good problem‑solving skills to enable the practice to work efficiently and effectively.
• IT literate, with the ability to work with a number of different systems containing confidential information.
• Positive attitude towards change and participating in development programmes, willingness to undertake further training and to learn new skills.

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.