GP Receptionist

New River Health is a busy GP Practice with 17,500 registered patients across two sites in Hertford and Ware. We require a full or part-time Receptionist with excellent communication skills and a commitment to high quality patient care to be part of our team. There will be morning and afternoon shifts.

Main duties of the job

The Reception team is the front door to our Practice, and the first people that patients will have contact with. It is a very important role as you are representing the Practice during each and every patient contact. You will be welcoming patients and visitors, answering the telephone and answering any enquiries.

• Dealing with prescription requests and queries relating to them.
• Liaising with other medical departments such as radiologists, medical specialists or psychologists with professionalism and discretion.
• Assisting patients with necessary forms and documentation that need processing.
• Scanning, filing, and mailing documentation from email or through the clinical system (SystmOne or Docman).

Job responsibilities

You will be responsible for the general administrative and reception duties within the Practice and work with our established processes, policies and procedures to provide a comprehensive high-quality service and deal efficiently and courteously with patient enquiries. Your regular duties in this role will include:

• Dealing with telephone, face to face and electronic enquiries.
• Booking and/or amending patient appointments and home visits.
• Contacting patients to provide information from the clinical team.
• Assisting patients to access our services and those available in the wider community.

RECEPTION

• Receiving patients, consulting with members of practice team.
• Processing personal and telephone requests for appointments, telephone consultations and ensuring callers are directed to the appropriate healthcare professional.
• Register new patients, checking all details for accuracy and entering on computer registration link.
• Taking messages and passing on information.
• Initiating contact with and responding to requests from patients, other team members and associated healthcare agencies and providers.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

• Processing and distributing paper correspondence received into practice.
• Process outgoing mail taking to post office and logging in post book.
• Filing and retrieving paperwork.
• Computer data entry/data allocation and collation; processing and recording information in accordance with practice procedures.
• Providing clerical assistance to practice staff as required, including word/data processing, filing, photocopying, and scanning.
• Keeping the reception area, notice boards, leaflet etc. tidy and presentable.
• Cover sickness/annual leave and work reasonable overtime when required.
• Perform any other relevant and reasonable duties that may be requested by the Reception Team Leader, Practice Management team or Partners.
• Undertake statutory and mandatory training as required.
• To provide an efficient word processing service for GPs and health professionals as required.
• To make appointments, bookings and admissions as required.
• To establish and maintain filing and administrative systems so that written or computer information is easily accessible and secure.
• File patient records and correspondence in patient medical records.
• To receive incoming and initiate outgoing telephone calls in order to facilitate timely and appropriate communications with others, taking messages and dealing with appropriate queries.
• To assist with the gathering of information re QOF, Audits, Enhanced service data when required.
• To provide cover for members of the team during periods of sickness and annual leave.
• Carry out administrative tasks relating to patient records, including filing, document management and ensuring patients can access reports, prescriptions and that they are easily accessible.
• Scan patient-related documents onto their medical record using read codes as agreed by the clinical team.
• Add any additional information about the source of the document.
• Forward the document to the doctor or nurse who initiated the referral or who is most appropriate to receive the information.
• Ensure incoming letters are scanned onto the patient record within a 48/72-hour timescale.
• Scan all internal paper documents on to the relevant patients record and then store the documents in line with surgery procedures.

APPOINTMENT SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

• Book/edit/cancel appointments and recalls ensuring sufficient information is recorded to retrieve medical record.
• Monitor effectiveness of the system and report any problems or variations required.
• Deal with home visit requests, carefully noting all details.

MEDICAL RECORDS MANAGEMENT

• Retrieve and refile records as required, ensuring that strict alphabetical order is adhered to.
• Ensure correspondence, reports, results, etc., are filed in correct record.
• Ensure records are kept neat and tidy and in good repair with all necessary information recorded correctly on the outer cover.
• Processing repeat prescriptions in accordance with practice guidelines.
• Handing completed repeat prescriptions to patient and checking names and address.

CONFIDENTIALITY

• Maintain confidentiality of information, acting within the terms of the Data Protection Act and Caldicott guidance on patient confidentiality at all times.
• Maintain an awareness of the Freedom of Information Act.
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.