Medical Receptionist jobs in Poole BH17

Rosemary Medical Centre is open Monday to Friday, 7:45 am to 6:30 pm. Applicants must be available to work within these opening hours.

Summary of Role

To provide professional, efficient and friendly first point of contact for patients and other visitors to the practice.

The reception team supports safe, effective patient care by managing incoming contacts, navigating patients to the most appropriate service, and providing clerical support to the clinical, admin and management teams.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

1. General Reception Responsibilities

• Have a thorough knowledge of all practice policies and procedures.
• Work in accordance with written processes and protocols at all times.
• Be flexible and able to cover all reception duties as necessary.
• Follow opening and closing procedures for the surgery.
• Ensure the waiting room and all public areas are kept tidy and presentable.
• Clear rooms after surgeries as required.
• Ensure building security – have thorough knowledge of doors, windows and alarm systems.
• Undertake fire marshal duties (for downstairs only, if applicable).
• Undertake any other reasonable tasks requested by managers.

2. First Point of Contact and Communication

• Receive, assist and direct patients via telephone, SystmConnect and in person in a polite, calm and professional manner at all times.
• Direct patients to the self check‑in screen or assist them to check in on arrival.
• Deal with queries about services and clinics run by the practice, requests for test results and other information, according to current procedures and in line with Information Governance (IG) and safeguarding requirements.
• Assist patients with completion of SystmConnect forms by telephone and in person (including, but not limited to, appointments, test results, private work/letter requests, prescription queries and home visit requests).
• Contact patients via phone or messaging on behalf of doctors, nurses and the admin team, as requested.
• Take and relay appropriate messages to all members of the primary healthcare team (doctors, nurses, admin, managers, etc.).
• Consult with members of the practice team and, where appropriate, liaise with other NHS departments and agencies.

3. Care Navigation and Appointment Booking

• Ask brief, appropriate questions to understand the reason for the patient’s contact, in line with practice protocols.
• Direct patients to the most appropriate service, as directed by the clinical team, which may include:

- GP, ANP, practice nurse, HCA, clinical pharmacist.

- Community services, Pharmacy First, NHS 111, urgent treatment centre, A&E, dentist, optician or other services as appropriate.

• Process appointment requests via SystmConnect for acute and future appointments, as directed by the duty clinician.
• Book appointments using the correct slot type and clinician, following the practice’s appointment system (e.g. on the day urgent, 3 day, 2 week, routine, telephone, face to face, enhanced access, nurse, HCA).
• Clearly explain appointment arrangements to patients, including type of appointment and any preparation required.

4. Supporting Safe Access and Triage

• Recognise potential urgent or emergency situations (e.g. chest pain, severe breathing difficulty, very unwell child, suicidal thoughts) and follow practice protocols to escalate immediately to the duty GP or call emergency services (999) where appropriate.
• Understand and work within the practice’s capacity and safe working limits, including when to signpost patients to alternative services once on the day capacity is reached.
• You are not expected to make clinical decisions but must follow triage and escalation protocols accurately.

5. Data Entry, Records and Information Handling

• Enter patient and clinical data onto the computer systems as per protocols.
• Process patients’ changes of address – update computer data and medical records (with knowledge of the practice area).
• Register new patients – follow Practice protocols for new and temporary patient registrations.
• Record patient deaths following the correct protocol.
• Document receipt of, and process in line with surgery protocols, items from patients including samples, prescription exemption forms, letters, medical information etc., ensuring they are correctly logged, labelled and passed to the appropriate clinician or team.
• Hand completed prescriptions, Med3s and other sensitive information to patients, ensuring data protection is adhered to (checking name, date of birth and address).
• Adhere to all practice policies and procedures for Information Governance and safeguarding.

6. Prescription and Admin Processes

• Process repeat prescription requests in accordance with practice guidelines and within agreed timescales.
• Do not give clinical advice about medications; refer medication queries to the appropriate clinician or pharmacy team.
• Collect fees for non NHS services on behalf of the doctors and issue receipts.
• Manage incoming and outgoing post, emails and documents according to practice protocols.

7. Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Professionalism

• Maintain strict confidentiality of all patient and practice information in line with GDPR, IG and practice policies.
• Be alert to potential safeguarding concerns involving children or vulnerable adults and escalate promptly to the safeguarding lead or duty GP.
• Treat all patients, carers and colleagues with courtesy and respect, even when under pressure or dealing with challenging behaviour.
• Adhere to the practice’s Zero Tolerance Policy regarding abusive or aggressive behaviour and report incidents to the Operations Manager.

8. Teamwork and Service Improvement

• Work collaboratively with GPs, Nurses, HCAs, Pharmacists, Admin team, Managers and other staff to support safe and efficient running of the practice.
• Attend staff meetings and training sessions as required to keep up to date with changes in systems, policies and procedures.
• Contribute to service improvement by providing feedback on patient experience, demand patterns and operational issues.

Person Specification (Summary)

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to remain calm, polite and professional under pressure.
• Good IT skills and ability to learn clinical systems (e.g. SystmOne).
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Commitment to confidentiality, Information Governance and safeguarding.
• Ability to follow protocols and work effectively as part of a team.

Desirable

• Previous experience in a GP practice or healthcare setting.
• Experience of using GP clinical systems.
• Knowledge of NHS services and care navigation.

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 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.
• Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

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 people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

A good attitude and positive action towards Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) creates an environment where all individuals can achieve their full potential.

Creating such an environment is important for three reasons – it improves operational effectiveness; it is morally the right thing to do and it is required by law.

Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.

Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued, and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.

Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)

This organisation is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff to maintain their health, wellbeing, and safety.

The post holder is to manage and assess risk within their areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients, and monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures, and guidelines.

All personnel have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for themselves, their team, and others and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.

All personnel are to comply with the:

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Environmental Protection Act 1990
• Environment Act 1995
• Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999
• Other statutory legislation which may be brought to the post holder’s attention

Confidentiality

The organisation is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality.

It is essential that, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained, all staff must protect patient information and provide a confidential service.

Quality and Continuous Improvement (CI)

To preserve and improve the quality of this organisation’s output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work.

The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the organisation, to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice, and to discuss, highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.

At this organisation, we continually strive to improve work processes which deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.

Staff should interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice.

All staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case reviews.

Induction

We will provide a full induction programme, and management will support you throughout the process.

Learning and Development

The effective use of training and development is fundamental to ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude, and competences to perform their role.

All staff will be required to partake in and complete mandatory training as directed. It is an expectation for this post holder to assess their own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate

The post holder will undertake mentorship for team members, and disseminate learning and information gained to other team members, to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g., courses and conferences).

The post holder will provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning.

Job Type: Permanent

Pay: £10.85-£12.71 per hour

Expected hours: 18.0 per week

Benefits:

• Company pension
• On-site parking

Education:

• GCSE or equivalent (required)

Experience:

• Customer service: 1 year (required)
• Reception/ Administrative: 1 year (required)

Language:

• English (required)

Licence/Certification:

• Driving Licence (preferred)

Work Location: In person