Detailed job description and main responsibilities

'We care We communicate We collaborate We contribute'

Communication and relationship building 

The post holder will:

Ensure that the service provided to patients and other service users is empathetic, caring and efficient.  This may involve for example, tactfully encouraging patients not fully aware of the severity of their medical condition to attend investigations without unduly alarming them, or, dealing with patients, or their relatives/ care providers, who may be upset, angry or distressed.

Deal with telephone enquiries from patients, patients relatives, patient’s care providers, general practitioners and referrers. A working knowledge of other areas of imaging will be necessary to ensure that a second call is not required and that queries are dealt with at the first point of contact or passed to the relevant area. Calls cover a whole variety of subjects including:

•    Anxious patients seeking advice on their forthcoming examinations or who are unhappy about the priority of the appointment they have been given.         
•    Patients unable to attend and need to change their appointment time or date.
•    General practitioners/consultants, requesting verbal results of imaging examinations.
•    Varied general enquiries

Responsibilities for analysis

The post holder will:

Use high levels of analytical and judgement skills when dealing with imaging enquiries. Referral information should be analysed to resolve problems for patients, carers and staff in relation to scheduled appointments and imaging staff roster commitments.  

Responsibilities for planning & organisation of activities

The post holder will:

Coordinate and organise own workload.

Be focused within a specific imaging area/ modality. However, a working knowledge of other imaging A&C areas will be required. Specific duties may be amended over time in response to the changing needs of the department.

Policies and services development

The post holder will:

Contribute to the development of clinical governance processes relevant to own area of responsibility.

Be responsible for booking radiology outpatient appointments in line with local and national waiting time targets via the CRIS system, using the Trust’s imaging patient tracking lists (PTL) to monitor waiting times.

Financial responsibility

The post holder will:

Use trust equipment in a responsible and safe manner; ensuring it is not treated in a way which is likely to cause damage.

Advises line manager in advance of stock and stationary replenishment required within role.

Managing people

The post holder will:

Be responsible for his/her actions and patient workload and be able to work unsupervised as well as part of a multidisciplinary team.

Where possible, enable patient choice across all imaging sites when booking appointments.

Responsibility for information resources

The post holder will:

Use a variety of IT systems which are essential to the performance of their day-to-day work including Microsoft applications (i.e., MS Teams, outlook, excel), radiology information system (i.e., CRIS) and hospital information system (i.e., Cerner). 

Gain thorough knowledge and understanding of the hospital and radiology information systems including imaging PACS (picture archiving communication system) to aid appointment scheduling, reviewing patient notes and images and update, amend or add patient information. Particular attention to detail is required as the department uses a number of operating systems that are interdependent.

Research and development 

The post holder will:

To keep up to date with current issues and developments within imaging. Share best practice and inform other staff of new A&C imaging developments

To take responsibility for pursuing his/her own development in accordance with an agreed Personal Development Plan 

Freedom to Act

The post holder will:

Undertaking a period of in-post training for 6-12 months to understand all aspects of the post and to attend other training courses as required. 

Have a very high level of autonomy and independent working. The post-holder works as part of a team but also regularly as a lone worker (weekends, out of hours, community diagnostic centre sites). Managing their patient list independently and confidently making decisions about workflow and prioritisation of urgency and accommodating priority ad-hoc referrals.

Other Responsibilities 

The post holder will:

Have a flexible approach to how contracted hours of work are scheduled and work location. 

Take part in regular performance appraisal. 

Please refer to the Job Description for further details