Admissions Co-Ordinator

The Surgical Admissions Team at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich is looking for an enthusiastic, well-motivated individual - who enjoys working in a challenging and busy environment - to provide and co-ordinate high quality support for maternity cover for 12 months.

The post holder will be accountable to the Surgery Service Managers. They will independently manage a caseload of patients within a specific surgical specialty with the responsibility of booking the elective patients within the National 18 week target and Cancer targets. They will provide an efficient admission service for all patients within the Division and lead on developments in the way elective admissions are organised. They should be able to identify any shortfall in the provision of elective slots and put forward suggestions for improving the patient access system and ensure that elective surgery access targets within the Division Surgery are met. Although this role is primarily based at University Hospital Lewisham site, there may be some element of cross site working required at the Queen Elizabeth site also.

Main duties of the job

You will be responsible for the day to day booking and coordination of consultants' theatre lists and pre assessment appointments, in line with waiting times guidance. You will have extensive experience of working in a customer focused role, have the ability to work to tight deadlines and perform effectively under pressure, while maintaining high standards of accuracy. An understanding of NHS performance targets would be an advantage.

You will have strong prioritising and excellent organisational skills together with the ability to remain calm and collected in a busy and dynamic environment. With strong communication and interpersonal skills you will have the ability to formulate and implement solutions working with the clinical and management teams.

You will be self-motivated, adaptable, have excellent time management and a willingness to learn new skills and take on challenges whether working on your own or part of a team. The work is varied, challenging and fast paced, requiring a flexible approach, and the ability to motivate and inspire others.

Job responsibilities

1. Co-ordinating and responsibility for a caseload of patients on the waiting list for elective surgery within their designated specialty.
2. Providing a primary point of contact between the multi-disciplinary team and their colleagues, patients and relatives.
3. Schedule elective admission, contacting patient offering them admission dates and agree with them the date of admission.
4. Delegate day to day scheduling of elective admissions and other tasks to the Scheduler, monitoring against agreed KPIs.
5. To use the 18 week Referral to Treatment guidance to manage the elective patient journey and develop expert knowledge of RTT.
6. To liaise with clinicians to ensure effective organisation and scheduling of theatre lists.
7. To attend weekly PTL meetings with Service Manager ensuring theatre lists are booked to maximum capacity. This will involve proactively looking to fill late cancellations in order to maximise capacity and activity.
8. To assist the Admissions Supervisor in monitoring and recording Surgeon annual leave and arranging cover where appropriate, ensuring relevant escalation to Service Manager in line with local leave booking policy where appropriate.
9. Maintain a good understanding of the Trusts Access Policy and ensure that booking processes remain in line with the policy.
10. To be responsible for anticipating potential breaches and escalating in good time to the Service Manager. This involves working with the Service Manager/Assistant Service Manager proactively to seek solutions to anticipate and avoid breaches.
11. Be proactive in escalating where capacity limitations threaten target compliance and contribute to seeking ways to increase capacity.
12. To undertake regular validation of waiting list.
13. Make appointments for patients pre-assessment for surgery, in-line with the particular patients needs, or as directed by medical/clinical staff guidance.
14. Prepare patient medical notes for review at pre-assessment as required. Including liaising with other trusts, if necessary, to order medical notes/clinical images and scans and have them available for the patients appointment/admission.
15. Liaise with theatre to ensure that specialist equipment is available where needed, and that theatre slots are utilised appropriately.
16. To cross cover with colleagues as appropriate, to ensure the smooth and effective running of the service.
17. Organise interpreters as required.
18. Ensure all cancelled operations are correctly recorded and new admission dates offered in line with the Trusts Access Policy.
19. To supervise and train junior members of staff in the department, escalating any performance issues to the Admissions Supervisor.

Person Specification Qualifications

• GCSE level Maths and English.
• NVQ Level 3 in Healthcare, Customer Care or Business Administration
• Competent in using software packages including Microsoft word, Outlook and Excel.
• Competent in the use of Icare specifically the applications used in the Admissions process.
• Management Qualification.

Experience

• Experience of working in the NHS or similar health care environment.
• Proven experience of working in an office environment
• Demonstrable knowledge of administration procedures and a high level of competence acquired through both training and experience
• An understanding of waiting list management
• Experience of working with hospital databases
• Evidence of training/supervising other team members

Communication

• Able to communicate accurately and effectively with patients and colleagues verbally and in writing.
• Able to follow instruction and complete assigned tasks.
• Able to deal with the public in person and on the phone

Service Improvement

• Able to carry out administrative and clerical duties appropriate to the work area.
• Able to lead on service improvement initiative in local environment.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum plus HCAS