Call Handler

Call Handler Local Access Point

Band 3

**Base**: Merlin House, Etchell Road, Tamworth, B78 3HF.

Full Time and Part Time Hours available

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the South East Alliance LAP for a Call Handler

There has never been a more exciting time to be part of designing and delivering community-based services in the NHS.

We are looking for a dynamic and skilled Call Handler to take up a permanent Band 3 role post within the South East Alliance LAP.

The role will provide high level customer service as a first point of contact to telephone callers into the Area by filtering and directing telephone calls for services across MPFT in South East Staffordshire over a 7 day a week service. You will also be required to Process referrals on our Client data bases ensuring that referrals are directed to the appropriate person or team.

The LAP works between 8.00am - 18.30pm Monday
- Friday and Sat/Sun & B/Hols 09.00am-17.00pm.

Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is an award winning organisation with over 9000 employees. We are one of the largest integrated Health and Social Care providers, covering services across North & South Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Isle of Wight and Essex.

We pride ourselves on the services provided to support with the well-being of all of our employees both physically and mentally and offer counselling support and lifestyle information. Opportunities for flexible working are also available depending on the role.

We encourage career development provided by in house training programs and coaching support.

We are embedding values based and inclusive recruitment practices to ensure that all applicants, from any backgrounds, have an equal chance of success in achieving a role with us.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Main duties and responsibilities
- Provide high quality customer service as the first point of contact for telephone calls into Community Nursing Teams, Therapy Services, Specialist Pelvic Health and Falls Prevention Services in South East and South West Staffordshire.
- Action appropriate referrals ensuring the demographics are correct and plan outcome within agreed scope. Returning any inappropriate referrals back to the sender for further information.
- Utilising triage protocols to direct calls to other services as required (internal and external).
- Ensuring a minimum standard of information is recorded for all referrals and messages to the service. This may include contacting the referrer or patient if the call is not taken directly by the call handler.
- Process referrals on electronic clinical systems following agreed protocols; ensuring all new referrals are sent to the clinical triage team in a timely way.
- Support Triage Nurses with information gathering, returning calls and scheduling visits as required.
- Sensitively handle personal imagery/digital photography.
- Manage venepuncture requests ensuring that ICE forms/referrals are processed accordingly using clinical and allocation systems.
- Demonstrate activities to new starters, support induction for new staff and maintain an up to date new starter handbook.
- Work alone unsupervised and escalate appropriately.
- Support Triage Nurse diaries including out-coming interventions on Clinical Systems.
- Participate in audits (data collection) as requested.
- Participate in team meetings and huddles, taking minutes and completing actions as appropriate.
- Completing off duty, populating Healthroster and supporting with annual leave planning alongside Triage Nurse/Operational Manager.
- Promote the use of digital platforms to aid self-management and prevention in relation to patient’s health and well-being.
- Work in collaboration with the PALS service to capture service user feedback using this to drive service improvements.

Communication and relationships
- Communicate daily with members of the LAP team and community nursing teams, including out of hours nursing.
- Communicate frequently with other adult service providers as needed; this will include talking to GPs; hospital medical staff; nursing and therapy staff to gather information required to support the patient or to escalate to the triage nurse.
- Communicate effectively with patients using voice or video calls for the duration of each shift. This will involve using empathy; persuasion and de-escalation skills when contacting patients or carers who may be calling with urgent health needs.
- Exposed to highly sensitive information and will be expected to follow MPFT information governance policies at all times, particularly in relation to confidentiality and data security.
- Demonstrates duties to new starter / trainees / less experienced employees

Decisions and judgements
- Follow LAP team protocols and will be supervised either face to face or remotely.
- Demonstrate the ability to organise own workload using independent judgement to prioritise required tasks and duties.
- To work within clear guidelines and proces