Switchboard Administrator

We are looking for an enthusiastic and well motivated person to join our switchboard team at Colchester Hospital. You must demonstrate the ability to work as part of a close-knit team, show a commitment to providing the highest standard of service and possess excellent communication skills.

Working within a 24hr, 7 day a week department, you will be required to work both flexible and varied shifts over the 7 day period. This will involve both out of hours working, night duties and Bank Holidays so flexibility is paramount. There is no set shift pattern.

To fulfil this post you will undertake 5 weeks ‘on the job’ training during which time you will be working a full 37.5 hour week until your training is complete. Your normal contracted hours will commence after this.
- To provide an efficient and courteous first line support service to patients, public and staff as a member of the Trust’s Switchboard, which operates 24 hours every day by participating in the shift rota.
- To receive and direct telephone calls both internally and externally.
- To act as the first point of contact for emergency calls of all types (cardiac arrest, fire and emergency lines) and monitor and respond appropriately to all the Trust’s emergency systems.
- To provide a 24 hr service to the Trust for the following services: Fire Alarms, Intruder Alarms, Plant/Gas Alarms, Bone Bank Alarms, Cook Chill Alarm & Lift Alarms. Administrators will action appropriate procedures when these alarms are activated.

One of the largest Trust’s in East Anglia, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) provide hospital and community health services to people living across a wide geographical area. We deliver care from two main hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, six community hospitals and in patients’ own homes. You will be joining a team of over 11,000 amazing colleagues providing care to 800,000 residents.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health & Wellbeing programme offer a range of services including mental health support. We offer a range of flexible working opportunities.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which do not work or cause time delays for our staff and patients.

To support our employees to achieve their career aspirations you may be eligible to obtain a qualification via an apprenticeship. All successful applicants will be required to undertake a skills review to facilitate this. For full details please see the attached Apprenticeship Handbook

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge then we are keen to hear from you.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Develop an understanding of the Trust’s telecommunication systems and procedures to be able to respond appropriately to calls from staff, patients, the pubic and the media.
- Develop an understanding of the Trust’s Facilities support.
- To monitor and respond to the Personal Mobile Radio system and Pearson Road help points.(Ipswich only).
- Maintain a record of emergency incidents.
- To operate the bleep system and investigate faults
- To manage and advise the escalation routes for emergency procedures liaising with emergency services as necessary eg missing persons, Majax call outs, security incidents etc.
- Manage storage of recorded media, monitoring, viewing and logging incidents that are observed. Monitor CCTV and instigate appropriate action. There may be a requirement to attend court to give evidence of authentication of CCTV recordings. (This is only required at the IHT Site)
- To process service requests from user.
- To undertake general administration duties
- Carry out any other related and relevant duties requested by the Switchboard Manager.

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.