Receptionist

**Hours available**:

- **X1 Role based at Field View Surgery 37.5 hours per week**:

- **X1 Role based at Southcoates Medical Centre 37.5 hours per week**

**JOB TITLE: Receptionist**

**REPORTS TO: Practice Manager**

**LOCATION: CHPL Practices**

**JOB PURPOSE**
- Greet patients and visitors in an efficient and courteous manner.
- Provide effective and polite telephone enquiry service.
- Proactively communicate information between relevant patients, doctors and other professionals.
- Record patient information and make clinic appointments.
- Provide administration support including the timely referral of patients.
- Support the requests for information made by patients and third parties.

**DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES**

**Communication**
- Communicate effectively and tactfully with patients/carers about appointments and services offered by the practice especially where English is not the first language
- Notify patients of any unusual circumstances that may cause their appointment to be delayed or postponed.
- Maintain the clinic appointment system recording those patients that fail to attend or attend for their appointments late.
- Respond and/or redirect all patient and visitor requests accordingly.
- Answer incoming calls from patients, carers and other parties ensuring calls are documented and redirected accordingly.
- Provide referrals to outpatients and other specialities in a timely manner and in line with organisational procedures.
- Effectively triage patients for walk-in services within CHPL practices in line with admin reception triage procedure.

**Analytical Tasks**
- Make emergency appointments and visit requests in line with practice policy.
- Direct patients to emergency services or local A+E when necessary for appropriate treatment.
- Direct patients to minor ailment schemes or walk-in services (including treatment rooms) in line with organisational procedures & record advice given within clinical record.
- Analyse and resolve basic patient problems regarding queries, appointments and comments.
- Follow reception triage policy to ensure patients are appointed appropriately or offered emergency advice.
- Support senior administrators and Practice Managers with administration quality audits.
- Ensure that prescription requests are accurately recorded and prescriptions are generated within the contracted timeframe of 48 hours.
- Ensure that all tasks and pathology are managed in line with organisational procedures and patients are informed of any actions required.

**Planning and Organisational Skills**
- Fill the appointments in a logical and orderly manner.
- Make appointment cancellations when notified by patient/carers and endeavour to fill these slots.
- Retrieve and re-file medical records for clinics as appropriate.
- Scan documents and file to electronic patient records daily.
- READ code and summarise patient correspondence and patient hand held records.
- Generate repeat prescriptions within 48 hours of request.
- Allocate home visit requests in line with practice procedure.
- Generate pathology audit reports and ensure patients are informed of test results and any subsequent GP/Nurse guidance in accordance with service procedures.

**Physical Skills**
- Standard keyboard skills required.
- Active listener, enabling patients to be directed to appropriate services in a timely manner.

**Responsibility for Patient Care**
- Provide face to face advice to patients on non-clinical issues.
- Provide telephone advice on non-clinical issues.
- Complete Basic Life Support training annually and to support clinical colleagues in an emergency situation.
- Distribute completed prescriptions to patients or pharmacy collection services.
- Take requests for repeat medications.
- Record and give patients their test results as per practice protocol.
- Provide information to patients, carers and others on the services offered by the practice and other local providers to ensure that the service is ‘Making Every Contact Count’.
- To offer advice and information on appointments to patients/carers.
- To ensure that the practice fax machine is operating correctly and has an adequate supply of paper/toner.
- To ensure that the practice out of hours telephone message is switched over at night and reflects current procedures for contacting the out of hours service providers.
- Ensure interpretation services are available for those patients where English is not the first language
- Ensure that the waiting area is tidy and clean with sufficient patient information materials available.
- Ensure that the reception/admin areas comply with practice procedures and policies in line with any CQC guidance.
- Ensure access is maintained for disabled patients.
- Ensure patient care is provided in accordance with The Equality Act.

**Policy and Service Development Implementation**
- Make recommendations to Practice Manager/Senior Administrator to improve service delivery in the reception area.
- Follow practice polic