Job overview

Provide a county-wide outpatient appointment booking service for patients and clinicians, ensuring adherence to wait time targets and optimal use of available capacity.

Monitor referrals, identify issues, and take appropriate actions to ensure efficient referral management.

Manage clinic rescheduling, prioritising clinical needs, and liaising directly with services or consultants to address capacity challenges.

Oversee follow-up appointments via waiting lists, ensuring clinical priorities are consistently maintained.

Make informed decisions on adjusting template capacity to balance clinical priorities with wait time targets.

Deliver a supportive and responsive service tailored to individual patient needs, particularly for those facing barriers to understanding.

Ensure accurate and timely data collection and advise the management team on capacity imbalances, suggesting potential solutions where necessary.

Main duties of the job

Monitor and manage waiting lists across county-wide sites to meet Trust and clinical targets.

Maintain and oversee the e-RS system, ensuring data accuracy and swiftly resolving errors.

Provide patients, relatives, and carers with a supportive, informative, and efficient service.

Optimize clinic capacity/ suggesting  adjustment of schedules to balance new and follow-up appointments within clinical and wait-time constraints.

Allocate specialty capacity effectively, considering the clinical abilities and specialisms of the team, making decisions to balance capacity and demand for optimal resource use.

Supply service managers with timely reports on capacity shortfalls and recommend reallocation solutions.

Process referral letters promptly, liaising with GPs and consultants as required.

Manage the accurate and timely cancellation and rescheduling of clinics and appointments.

Identify and escalate internal or external process issues affecting the Central Booking Office to the appropriate team.

Adhere to all CBO and Trust policies and procedures.

Employ tactful, persuasive communication to encourage attendance, especially with anxious or distressed patients.

Prioritize and manage your workload to ensure all tasks are completed within required timeframes.

Undertake additional duties as directed by the Line Manager.

Provide departmental coverage during periods of absence or annual leave.

Working for our organisation

We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.

With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

The Central Booking Office (CBO) comprises 80+ staff, including Management, Lead Supervisors, Supervisors, Booking Specialists and the Admin & Phone team. Upon completion of training, there may be an opportunity to join the hybrid working rota.