Outpatients Booking Coordinator – Band 4 – Guildford

Contract Type: 0

Salary: £29812 – £32715

Partner Org: Royal Surrey County Hospital

Overview

As the Booking Coordinator, your responsibilities include booking new or follow‑up appointments and clinics for various specialties within local and national booking guidelines. You will provide excellent customer service to patients, showing empathy and understanding of their situation. Daily tasks involve liaising with outpatient reception teams, secretaries and other internal stakeholders in the hospital. You will work in a calm, logical and methodical way, multi‑tasking on a variety of urgent queries. You must be familiar with the Data Protection Act and maintain patient confidentiality. The department operates in line with government targets around patient waiting time and is suitable for someone accustomed to challenging yet rewarding targets.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will have clear, concise verbal and written communication skills, honed from previous experience, to enable accurate records and confidence in dealing with multidisciplinary teams, patients and carers via telephone and using the database. You will work within a larger team of booking coordinators, comfortable working towards a rewarding goal that supports patients, the hospital and reduces pressure on the NHS.

Working for our organisation

Royal Surrey is a compassionate and collaborative acute and community Trust. With 5,000 colleagues, we offer a comprehensive health and wellbeing programme and a commitment to career development. Our services are clinically led, providing joined‑up care across hospital and community sites and regional specialist cancer care. The main acute hospital site is in Guildford, with community sites at Milford, Haslemere and Cranleigh, and adult community health services delivered in homes across Guildford and Waverley. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has awarded us an overall rating of Outstanding. Royal Surrey has a strong reputation and history, investing over £45 million in its physical environment and equipment in the coming years. There has never been a better time to join us.

Although it isn’t the Trust’s normal practice, adverts may close early, so you are encouraged to submit an application as soon as possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To register the referral and patient details on Cerner PAS, ensuring a high level of data accuracy and amending inaccurate data (e.g., change of patient contact details or surname).
• Enter referrals into the correct ‘waiting time’ group in compliance with national operational referral‑to‑treatment (RTT) requirements.
• The post holder must have a good working knowledge of the eReferral System (eRS).
• Highlight any referrals requiring urgent attention and deal with them promptly; this may involve discussing with the medical team to arrange bookings and rapidly highlighting capacity concerns in the urgent and Two Week Rule (TWR – suspected cancer) pathways to meet national cancer targets.
• Book follow‑up appointments and ward follow‑up appointments in line with clinician requirements and appropriate timelines.
• Dispatch all necessary paperwork, e.g., informing patients of their appointment details or notifying the GP that the patient failed to attend an appointment.
• Deal with written and telephone enquiries for departments within the relevant Outpatient service, transferring information to other departments as appropriate.
• Link with other clinical services as appropriate to ensure the patient’s diagnostic tests (e.g., MRI scans) are scheduled before the outpatient appointment.
• Deal with patients in a mature manner over the phone, handling distressed patients with a sensitive and reassuring approach in difficult situations.
• Understand principles of patient confidentiality, data protection and safeguarding and maintain them at all times.
• Cancel and reschedule patients at the request of consultants or their team when they take leave, making decisions for future bookings that align with the department’s medical priorities.
• If the clinic is under six‑week notice, ensure the specialty is compliant with policy and obtain Associate Director or Operations approval before cancelling the activity; liaise with the specialty and, if necessary, escalation to the Outpatient Service Manager.
• Monitor outpatient clinics weekly to ensure correct utilisation of appointment slots and liaise with the Appointment Centre Team Leader or department staff if appointments are under‑utilised.
• Maintain an up‑to‑date understanding of referral‑to‑treatment (RTT) priorities, including waiting times by specialty and policies involving patient choice; be open to future changes and attend training when necessary.

The hours for the position are Monday to Friday between 08:30 and 16:30.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Essential criteria: GCSE passes in Maths and English (or equivalent). NVQ Level 4 in business administration or equivalent level of knowledge and experience.

Knowledge

• Essential criteria: Previous administration experience. Previous experience dealing effectively with the general public. Knowledge and experience of working with MS Office software. Experience of working in a busy office environment.
• Desirable criteria: Experience of working within an appointments booking service. Knowledge and experience of Cerner/PAS system. Knowledge of hospital clinic procedures.