Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key roles and responsibilities;

Manage and lead the administrative and clerical staff within the chronic pain service, to include the line management of administration staff.

Oversee appraisals and mandatory training, ensuring compliance with Trust targets

Identify any training needs and assist with implementing and delivering training / workshops as required.

Monitor performance and sickness absence and take appropriate action when necessary.

Work cohesively and collaboratively with all members of the chronic pain team to ensure that the service is managed efficiently and effectively for the benefit of service users and staff.

Ensure the pro-active management of patient referrals, highlighting concerns or issues to the AGM or GM.

Ensure the patient’s journey is processed in a timely and efficient manner and pro-actively escalate issues in the patient pathway so that potential delays are resolved at the earliest opportunity.

Ensure all patients on waiting or treatment lists are given appropriate appointments within agreed timescales and any investigations required are booked.

Monitor clinic utilisation, ensuring that clinics are set up and adjusted according to patient demands and any agreed service changes, liaising directly with the pathway co-ordinator and other services such as the Central Booking Office and Trak management teams as required.

Work with the GM, AGM and clinical teams to support service improvement initiatives which help streamline processes to improve the quality of care and service provision, taking the lead for various projects as required by the GM.

Represent the administration team within staff meetings and meetings with other services, teams and departments as appropriate.

Assist staff with resolution of payroll queries 

Demonstrate own activities / tasks to new or less experienced members of staff

Contribute towards the recruitment and retention of administration and clerical staff within service 

Maintain own e-learning and mandatory training

Work without direct supervision, liaising and communicating with various disciplines as appropriate.

The post holder will be required to undertake any other appropriate duties according to the needs of the service.  This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities, but rather an outline of the main areas of responsibility.  Any reasonable changes will be discussed and agreed with the post holder before variations to the job description are made.

Communications and Working Relationships;
 
General Managers

Deputy and Assistant General Managers

Members of the multi-disciplinary team – ie; nurses, psychologists, medical consultants, physiotherapists

Secretarial and administration staff

Day surgery staff

Health Records staff

Central Booking Office staff

Patients, relatives and carers

Procurement and Creditors

Payroll and finance staff

Conference providers and training leads

Systems management teams

Most Challenging Part of the Job;

Requirement to work within a busy environment with frequent interruptions 

Assisting with the management of, and reacting to, an unpredictable workload with changing priorities

Management of demands from clinical teams to provide adequate administration support within limited resources 

Working flexibly across sites and providing visibility to all members of the chronic pain team

Managing conflict and staff disagreements

Physical, mental and emotional effort and working conditions;

The post holder is required to work cohesively with colleagues and to use their own initiative to analyse, make decisions and implement, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their contribution to the chronic pain service to ensure the best outcome for excellent service delivery.

Expected to sit predominantly at a desk but have frequent interruptions, with the need to move around the department and to other departments when required.

Use of VDU on a daily basis 

High levels of concentration are required in an environment with frequent interruptions either by telephone or face to face contacts

A requirement to plan own work, between hospital sites, and to balance changing and sometimes conflicting priorities.

A requirement for light physical effort for short periods such as lifting and handling stationery, files and office equipment

Dealing with sensitive and confidential information, that may sometimes be distressing.  

There will be a need to talk to patients who contact the department, who are sometimes distressed, whilst also supporting other admin staff to manage these calls.

Personal duty of care in relation to safe usage of equipment

Responsibility for financial transactions in a position of trust and responsibility.