Medical Secretary jobs in Durham DH8

JOB TITLE
Receptionist / Care Navigator

SALARY RANGE
£13.00 per hour

JOB PURPOSE

The purpose of the role of Receptionist / Care Navigator is to provide efficient and effective reception and clerical support to the Practice (across our 4 sites), exercising absolute discretion and confidentiality, to ensure the smooth running of surgeries and other services provided to patients.
Delivering a high standard of customer care always.

POSITION IN ORGANISATION
Accountable to: Assistant Practice Manager / Operations Manager

DUTIES AND KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Dealing with all appointments and patient requests, ensuring that surgery time is effectively utilised, allocating pre bookable and urgent appointments appropriately and monitoring the flow of patients during surgeries.
• Deliver Active Signposting, providing patients with a first point of contact directing them to the most appropriate source of help. Ensuring the patient is booked with the right clinician/service
• Providing a comprehensive reception service, responding to a range of enquiries in a polite, caring, and efficient manner, adhering to practice protocols and dealing with difficult situations in a calm and controlled manner.
• Dealing with all telephone requests and enquiries in a courteous and efficient manner, referring callers to appropriate personnel and ensuring messages are relayed and in a timely manner, particularly those requesting urgent advice.
• Taking comprehensive details for patients requesting home visits and ensuring that these are recorded in accordance with the protocol to allow steps to be taken for triage.
• Undertaking and ensuring all aspects of Patient registration are carried out in a timely way.
• Promoting services and educating patients to improve their experience Online Access, E- consult, Extra Care service etc.
• Ensuring that any change of patient details/personal circumstances are recorded accurately and actioned on both the manual and computerised record system.
• Undertaking a variety of clerical tasks in support of patient service activity including interpreter bookings, insurance and benefit documentation, vaccinations, breast screenings etc
• Explaining practice arrangements and requirements for registration and arrangements for new patients seeking care, ensuring that all documentation is fully completed
• Participating in the extended hours rota providing clerical support to the appointment surgery and working with the doctor on call.
• Complete all statutory training courses as required.

Working Relationships

• Interaction with colleagues in the reception, secretarial and admin team Reports to

Assistant Practice Manager / Operations Managers

• Liaises with nursing team and medical/clinical personnel

Equality & Diversity

• The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include: o 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 o Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues o 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: o Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development o Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work o Training may need to be undertaken outside of normal practice hours, and off site.

Quality

• The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the Practice, and will alert other team members to issues of quality and risk o Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision o 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 o Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs o 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

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.

• All such information from any source is to be regarded 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 and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety:

• All employees are subject to the requirements of the Health & Safety at Work Act. The postholder is required to ensure, as an employee, that his/her work methods do not endanger other people or themselves.
• 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
• Reporting potential risks identified

This job description is not exhaustive and is a guideline to the scope of duties involved. It will be reviewed at regular intervals. It is not intended as a rigid inflexible specification and will be subject to the changing requirements of Gateshead Healthcare.

ATTRIBUTE ESSENTIAL DESIRABLE

EDUCATION Good level of education to GCSE standard or equivalent

TRAINING, EXPERIENCE Significant previous experience in an Working knowledge of EMIS
AND KNOWLEDGE NHS patient facing environment web

Experience of reception work in a busy GP practice
APTITUDE, SKILLS AND Good communicator with a pleasant
COMPETENCIES manner

Excellent customer service skills

Aptitude for clerical systems and a good level of IT competency

Accurate and efficient worker

DISPOSITION Ability to remain calm in stressful situations

Keen to work as a team member

Flexible and adaptable

Well organised and hardworking

Pay: From £13.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Education:

• GCSE or equivalent (required)

Experience:

• Customer service: 1 year (required)
• Administrative: 1 year (preferred)

Language:

• English (required)

Licence/Certification:

• Driving Licence (preferred)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person