GPA in Yeovil

Job Description

Job Title: General Practice Assistant (GPA)
Reporting to: PCN Manager and Clinical Lead
Location: Yeovil
Salary: £13.84 per hour
Hours of Work: Full time and Part time available

The Role:

As a General Practice Assistant (GPA) you will be joining a busy, dynamic, and patient-focused service that plays a vital role in supporting the diagnosis, monitoring, and ongoing care of patients within the community. Our Investigations Hub provides a wide range of diagnostic and clinical services, working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to deliver safe, efficient, and high-quality care. The communication Investigation Hub supports 4 practices within Yeovil, covering 56,000 patients.
The Community Investigations Hub is committed to delivering compassionate, person-centred care while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, safety, and clinical excellence. As an GPA, you will be an integral member of the team, supporting the 4 practices in delivering investigations and ensuring patients receive a positive, dignified, and reassuring experience throughout their visit.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the PCN management team in the delivery of the Network Contract DES, Quality and Outcome Framework and other contract specifications.
• Arranging appointments, referrals, tests and follow up appointments of patients.
• Clinical duties will include taking blood pressure, performing ECGs and phlebotomy. AS well as additional training provided for delivering spirometry, health checks and diabetic checks.
• Administering vaccinations as part of vaccination campaigns.
• Provide support to care home and housebound patients with completing their annual health checks.
• Explaining treatment procedures, processes and pathways to patients
• Providing administration support for public health campaigns e.g. vaccination clinics
• Participating in the management of patient complaints and significant events, and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through incidents and learning events;
• Providing support for projects within the Primary Care Network
• Maintain accurate records and statistical returns as required.
• Covering reception, usually a day a week, where you will be required to arrange housebound and care home visits, contacting patients about their appointments by telephone calls and text messaging service.
• Answering patient queries, booking patients in for appointments and, where necessary, arrange follow up appointment.

Confidentiality

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust practice staff with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters.
• Comply with legislation with regards to data protection act and ensure confidentiality is maintained at all times.
• The post-holder must regard all information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers (as well as information relating to the practice as a business organisation) as strictly confidential
• 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, data protection legislation and the protection of personal and sensitive data, as well as other related healthcare legislation (e.g. the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice)

Health & Safety

The post-holder will comply with practice policies, procedures and clinical guidelines for self and others. This includes (but not limited to):

• Identifying, reporting, and correcting health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business
• Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness, as well as ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols and implementing them across the practice.
• Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate.
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities, raising them with appropriate management and managing those risks across clinical and patient processes.
• Safe management of sharps procedures, including training, use, storage and disposal
• Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other managers
• Demonstrate due regard for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of work space standards;
• Waste management, including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection
• Spillage control procedures, management and training
• Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
• To undertake any other duties appropriate to the grade and purpose of the job as may be agreed by the post holder.

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 recognizes the importance of people’s 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.
• Identify patterns of discrimination and take action to overcome this and promote diversity and equality of opportunity.
• Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
• Support people who need assistance in exercising their rights.

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 team’s performance.
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patient’s needs.
• Effectively manage own time, workload, and resources

Communication

The post-holder should recognize 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 people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Person Specification

• Post: General Practice Assistant (GPA)
• Essential Desirable
• Qualifications Educated GCSE level (with a GCSE pass in English and Maths)/equivalent or equivalent experience working in a similar role
• Qualification in health or social care allied profession
• Further training or qualifications relating to administration
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including ability to listen, to discuss and to inform clearly
• Excellent organisational skills and meticulous with good time management skills
• Ability to build strong relationships with colleagues at all levels
• Excellent degree of accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to produce reports
• Ability to work alone and part of a team and promote a good team spirit
• Able to take an overview and prioritise effectively
• Understanding of basic health and social care terminology
• Familiarity with IT systems currently in use in health and social care settings
• Experience Experience of clerical and administrative work
• Experience and good understanding of operating Microsoft Office including Word, Power Point and Excel
• Experience and good working knowledge of patient/client confidentiality
• Experience of prioritising own workload in a busy working environment
• Knowledge of current QoF and enhanced services
• Experience of working in a GP practice or healthcare environment
• Personal Qualities and Attributes/Other Strong customer focus
• Ability to cope with multiple demands
• Willingness and ability to participate in attending training courses relation to the role
• Yeovil PCN - Abbey Manor Medical Practice - Yeovil

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