Reception and Appointment Clerk

Contract: Fixed term: 12 months (To cover Maternity Leave for 12 months)

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 08:30 - 17:00)

The Reception and Appointment Clerk works in an office-based role, booking appointments and managing our telephone systems. As the team deal with a wide range of enquires, the Reception and Appointment Clerk will often link in with the other admin teams which include the Treatment Bookings team, Clinic Co-Coordinators, Medical Secretaries, and Nurse Specialist Support Team. 

The Reception and Appointment Clerk also provides a frontline welcome, support, information and signposting to patients being treated and living with a cancer diagnosis, as well as patients who have non-malignant blood conditions. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team across the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre (BHOC) Outpatient and Day Unit, in both Haematology and Oncology. 

The Reception and Appointment team work across two sites, Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre and the Myrtle Road Administration Office. 

Main duties of the job

• To welcome patients to the department, ensuring that patient information held is correct (address, telephone numbers, GP details, Next of Kin details), and that the attendance is recorded on Medway/Mosaiq.
• To liaise with patients, wards, clinical staff, GPs and Trust support staff in person, via telephone and email as and when necessary.
• To communicate effectively, promptly and accurately, applying discretion and tact where necessary, with written, telephone and face-to-face contact, with patients, visitors, other Trust staff and various external agencies.
• Escalate patient queries, capacity problems and general issues to the role’s line manager or relevant clinical staff as appropriate.
• To provide appropriate and timely information to all visitors to the Department or in response to telephone calls as deemed necessary and appropriate, and in accordance with the Data Protection Act and any Hospital/Departmental guidelines.
• To be a point of contact for 'Outpatient' and 'Treatment Bookings' telephone calls into the department.
• To liaise with the nursing and medical staff to ensure that planned day unit sessions run to time, have all the relevant patient notes prior to patients attending, and that patient notes are prepped with necessary paperwork and labels.

Person specification

Knowledge and Experience

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience in a healthcare or public setting.
• Previous NHS experience.
• Clerical/administration experience including filing and/or reception.

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• Educated to GCSE, grade C or above (or equivalent) in English Language and Maths.

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

• Excellent/professional telephone manner.
• Flexible approach to duties.
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines while maintaining a high level of accuracy.
• Proven good organisational skills.
• Good IT skills including Microsoft packages.
• Confidence to handle difficult conversations with patients, relatives and carers.
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to work effectively in a busy team, adjust to change and motivate each other.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.