Patient Services Coordinator in Bristol

We are seeking a Patient Services Coordinator to join our dynamic and supportive team. The successful candidate will play a vital role in ensuring our patients receive excellent care and support. You will be the first point of contact for patients, helping coordinate appointments, manage enquiries, and support smooth practice operations to include referral and document management. This role is fast-paced, ideal for someone who is organised, compassionate and enjoys working in a busy healthcare environment.

Our Patient Services Coordinators require excellent communication, time management and IT skills, alongside the ability to adapt their approach to meet the individual needs of our diverse patient population. You will have experience of dealing with the public at all levels. Candidates will be required to work a set shift pattern each week between the hours of 07:45 - 19:00 with occasional Saturday mornings. Previous GP or NHS experience is desirable but not essential - attitude, teamwork and a positive approach matter most. Flexibility to cover holidays and sick leave is essential.

Benefits include access to a generous NHS pension scheme, staff parking, wellbeing initiatives, social activities and NHS Blue Light Card.

Main duties of the job

As Patient Services Coordinator you will play a key role in ensuring the smooth and efficient delivery of patient-facing administrative services within the practice, providing a high quality, patient-focused service to our patients. The post holder is responsible for coordinating day-to-day patient services, supporting access to care, and providing a high-quality, compassionate service to patients, carers, and colleagues.

Working closely with the clinical teams, the Patient Services Coordinator acts as a central point of contact for patient enquiries, appointment coordination, and service navigation, ensuring that patient needs are addressed appropriately and in line with practice policies and NHS standards. The role requires excellent communication, organisational skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a busy healthcare environment while maintaining confidentiality and professionalism at all times.

The post holder will work closely, and under the direction of the management team to improve standards across a wide range of administrative activity.

About us

We are a friendly, modern Practice aiming to provide a caring and professional service, working in partnership with our patients to offer the best possible healthcare. We value continuity and confidentiality and have a well-established reputation in the local community. Founded over 50 years ago, we are a modern family practice with a skilled team providing a range of first-class medical services.

We are a teaching practice welcoming University of Bristol medical students, University of the West of England (UWE) nursing students, as well as trainee doctors F2, ST2 and ST3. We are a member of Healthwest Primary Care Network, sharing innovation and delivery of services at scale to support our patients and staff. The four practices that comprise our PCN are Pembroke Road Surgery, The Family Practice, Whiteladies Medical Group and Student Health Services, part of Bristol University. Our network covers nearly 72,000 patients locally. Our network team includes social prescribers, first contact physiotherapists, clinical pharmacists, care coordinators and more.

Job responsibilities

• Reception: Greet patients and visitors in a friendly and professional manner. Answer incoming telephone calls, process patient triage requests and receive patients at front desk to ensure they access the most appropriate care pathway or healthcare professional in line with practice protocols. This may be a GP, Nurse, Pharmacist, Physiotherapist, Community Pharmacist or other organisation best suited to the patients need. Book, amend, and cancel appointments using the clinical system. Manage patient requests for prescriptions, test results, and medical information in line with practice policy. Maintain accurate patient records and update demographic details. Support clinical staff with administrative tasks as required. Register new patients and ensure documentation is completed correctly. Opening and closing procedures.
• Referrals: Process routine, urgent, and two-week-wait referrals in line with clinician instructions. Create and submit referrals via the NHS e-Referral Service (eRS) and other required systems. Ensure referral information is complete, accurate, and appropriately coded. Track referrals and follow up outstanding appointments or outcomes. Escalate delays, rejected referrals, or urgent concerns to the appropriate clinician. Contact patients regarding referral details, appointment booking, and required information. Respond to patient queries about referral status in a clear and professional manner. Provide guidance on next steps while avoiding clinical advice. Maintain accurate patient records and update referral outcomes. Scan, upload, and file referral correspondence. Support audits, reporting, and waiting-time monitoring. Ensure referrals meet local commissioning and pathway requirements.
• Document Management: Process incoming clinical correspondence, including hospital letters, investigation results, and reports. Scan, upload, code, and file documents accurately onto the clinical system. Ensure documents are accurately coded in line with practice protocols. Allocate documents to the appropriate clinician or team for action. Identify and highlight urgent or abnormal information requiring prompt attention. Maintain high standards of data quality and record keeping. Support audits and quality checks relating to document management. Report incidents, data breaches, or concerns in accordance with practice policy. Provide cover for the medical reports team.
• Confidentiality: In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately. In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. Strict confidentiality must be maintained at all times in line with GDPR, Caldicott principles, and practice policies. 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.
• Health & Safety: The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Policy, to include: Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines. Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks. Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills. Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards.
• Equality and Diversity: The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include: Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation. Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues. Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
• Personal/Professional Development: The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include: Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development. Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
• Quality: The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will: Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk. Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision. Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance. Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs. Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.
• Communication: The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to: Communicate effectively with other team members. Communicate effectively with patients and carers. Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
• Contribution to the Implementation of Services: The post-holder will: Apply practice policies, standards and guidance. Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work. Participate in audit where appropriate. In the changing environment of General Practice, this role is designed to evolve and adapt to the needs of the practice, therefore this job description is a guide to the role and not exhaustive. Staff should be prepared to take on additional duties with additional training and guidance, or relinquish duties in order to maintain efficient running of the practice.

Person Specification

• Ability to cope and work well in a busy and pressured environment.
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients, health professionals, outside agencies and other members of staff.
• Empathy and patience with patients.
• Ability to maintain excellent customer service at all times.
• Ability to deal with difficult situations with a professional approach.
• Ability to assess situations and make appropriate decisions.
• Proactive and able to take initiative.
• Ability to prioritise workload.
• Flexible and positive 'can-do' approach towards work.
• Personal identification with the work of the practice.
• Pride in maintaining good relationships with patients and other staff, ensuring high standards throughout the practice.
• Able to work as part of a team.
• Punctual and reliable.
• Able to work flexibly in an emergency and to provide extra cover during holidays and sickness absence.
• Smart appearance.

Experience

• Computer literate - demonstrable skills in Word, Excel, Internet and Outlook.
• Working with the general public.
• Understanding of confidentiality and Data Protection principles.
• Knowledge of Information Governance issues.
• Knowledge of EMIS computer system.
• Working within a healthcare setting.
• Experience of dealing with, and assisting patients or members of the public.

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.