Job summary
- Main area
- Referral Management Service
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job ref
- 471-5890879-D
- Employer
- NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB)
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- New County Hall
- Town
- Truro
- Salary
- £22,816 - £24,336 pa pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/05/2024 23:59
Employer heading
Referral Administrator
Band 3
Job overview
We have an exciting opportunity to join the high performing NHS Referral Management Service (RMS) which is led by General Practitioners. The service manages in excess of 130,000 referrals per year from 50 GP practices in Cornwall.
The RMS is responsible for offering choice of hospital to patients to enable them to be seen in the most appropriate setting for their care. The service is also helping to support moving patients who have been waiting a significant amount of time to an alternative hospital. These pieces of work will enable the local hospital Trust to reduce the waiting times for patients and improve the patient experience.
As a Referral Administrator you will be the main point of contact for patients, their carers and staff from NHS and independent hospitals. The work will involve incoming and outgoing calls from patients and NHS providers, processing patient referrals over a range of planned care specialities commissioned by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board including specialist dentist, ophthalmology and the termination of pregnancy services.
Part time applications are welcomed, working either 3 or 4 full days per week. Please indicate in your supporting information whether your preference is full or part time working hours.
Main duties of the job
Referral administrators are responsible for analysing patient referral letters and performing an administrative check to ensure each referral meets the required criteria. The role involves using different databases and IT systems, including the national e-Referrals system to select the most appropriate service for each patient.
Taking incoming calls from patients and service providers.
You must be adaptable and flexible as the needs of the service change going forward. This will allow successful candidates to have an interesting and varied workload as the scope of the RMS is expanded.
Successful candidates will have excellent communication skills and a high level of analytical skills to be able to accurately interpret clinical information. They will have a high level of computer literacy and be comfortable managing information from databases at the same time as talking to patients. Finally, the role requires people who are very comfortable working to daily monitored standards of quality and accuracy but who are also able to work autonomously whilst using their initiative. In return you will get the chance to work for a high performing team who make a daily difference to patients.
NHS experience is not necessary as full training will be provided. Successful candidates will have access to excellent career and personal development opportunities within the NHS.
Working for our organisation
NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) is a statutory NHS organisation responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of our communities, managing the NHS budget, and arranging for the provision of joined up health services which improve the lives of people who live and work in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
By collaborating as an integrated care system (ICS) our health and care organisations can tackle complex challenges, including:
- improving the health of children and young people
- supporting people to stay well and independent
- acting sooner to help those with preventable conditions
- supporting those with long-term conditions or mental health issues
- caring for those with multiple needs as populations age
- getting the best from collective resources so people get care as quickly as possible.
We are always keen to hear from people who would like to work with us, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of sex, sexual orientation, racial origin or disability.
You can look forward to excellent benefits including discounts in store and online, optional pension and life assurance, flexible working options, salary sacrifice vehicles and cycles and much more.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will need to be flexible and adaptable to the changes affecting the service. Currently, the post holder is responsible for:
- Processing referrals from GP practices and dental practices
- Processing referrals for the pregnancy advisory service
- Requesting coronavirus swab tests for a cohort of patients awaiting an operation in the local hospital trust
- Dealing with queries from GP practices, dental practices and patients regarding the status of a referral
- Helping to support the reduction of waiting lists by transferring patients from one provider to another
- Supporting the local trust, other providers and other departments within the organisation with administrative based work.
It is anticipated that further services will be managed through the department and a flexible approach is therefore essential.
The key aspects of the role include:
- Using provided reference material, carry out an admin triage of referrals to ensure key information is included
- Using reference materials provided to identify suitable services in order for the patient to be treated in the most appropriate setting
- Being polite, professional and empathetic when speaking to callers on the telephone
- Recording referral information accurately on a bespoke database
- Using initiative to be able to problem solve and answer queries as they arise
- Providing clinical and logistical information on choice of services and hospitals to patients and GP practices
- Meeting departmental targets relating to the number of referrals processed and the accuracy of the work completed
- Acting as the first point of contact for any e-Referral Service (e-RS) enquiries/support
- Proposing and supporting changes within the RMS
- Taking responsibility to ensure own knowledge is up to date
- Updating, managing and retrieving patient information on a daily basis on the following information systems:
- Patient Administration System (PAS)
- Access database system used by RMS
- e-RS (GP referral booking system)
- any other appropriate data base
The post holder will utilise the NHS e-RS to receive and triage referrals for patients. This triage will include an administrative check and identifying the clinical reason for referral to ensure the patient is booked into an appropriate service. The post holder will therefore need to be able to utilise and organise a wide range of reference information to enable them to quickly identify which services are appropriate for the patient.
The post holder will require theoretical and practical knowledge gained through formal training to be able to assess patient referrals at a highly accurate standard.
The post holder requires a high level of e-RS knowledge to be able to recognise inaccuracies in referrals and act appropriately. The post holder will need to maintain working knowledge of e-RS in an environment where change is constant.
The post holder will be required to populate a database with complex referral information in a pressurised environment. They will need to demonstrate a high level of accuracy whilst completing this task.
The post holder will operate within a large team and will be monitored against performance targets.
The post holder has access to confidential General Practice and NHS Healthcare Provider’s data and will therefore need to have a working knowledge and adhere to all aspects of information governance, data protection and confidentiality policies.
The post holder will need to be flexible and able to prioritise the workload of the department and adjust workload plans on a daily basis. There is a high level of changeability of daily workload and there are many disruptive elements which can impact on daily plans.
There is a requirement to have a proactive approach to ensure that patients are treated within specified NHS timescales and those patients who are about to ‘breach’ their treatment dates are immediately prioritised. Complexity of balancing these requirements to comply with NHS waiting list rules is high.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- GCSE (or equivalent) English and Maths Grade 1-9 (C or above), or a higher level qualification in a subject acceptable to the recruiting manager.
- At least NVQ level 3 in business administration or equivalent experience
- RSA Level III or ECDL or equivalent keyboard accuracy and speed
Experience
Essential criteria
- Ability to accurately work with Microsoft Word, Excel and Access.
- Experience of working in a busy, high pressured environment and able to meet deadlines
- Experience of working with the general public and providing guidance and advice
- Awareness: Up to date with the NHS Agenda, national directives and polices, particularly the NHS Choice Framework
Desirable criteria
- Previous training experience with Hospital Waiting List Management systems
- Previous NHS experience
- Knowledge of the NHS E-Referral System
- Previous experience of working to targets
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Fran Omahony
- Job title
- Assistant General Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
List jobs with NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) in Administrative Services or all sectors