Job overview

We are recruiting for a Switchboard Operator who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.

The Trust switchboard responds to calls for the Lister, New QEII, Hertford County and Mount Vernon Cancer Centre from a centralised switchboard based at Lister Hospital.  The operator must proficiently work the computer-based switchboard.  The operator must be able to make decisions and deal with emergency calls calmly and efficiently in a high-level, fast-moving environment, e.g. dealing with cardiac arrest calls, trauma calls, fire calls, major incidents, bomb threats, medigas gas alarms and lift entrapments.   

Staff are frequently required to work under their own initiative and make immediate decisions in the event of problems, especially when working unsupervised or alone.  All staff endeavour to meet agreed response times however abnormal fluctuations (emergencies, lone working) can significantly increase pressures on the service. 

At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Include, Respect, and Improve. We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will operate as a Telephonist, dealing with incoming calls, both external and internal.

You will be able to work unsociable hours on 37.5 hours shift working pattern i.e. weekends, evenings, nights, and bank holidays, including Christmas.

You will monitor progress of calls, routing them elsewhere if the extension is engaged or not responding.

You will be able to communicate to a high level and pass on information accurately to the Supervisor/Team Leader, i.e. any changes to on call personnel and personal information requiring entry in the directory databases.

The successful candidate will answer and deal with customer queries in a professional manner.

Working for our organisation

At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.

We run the following hospitals:

• The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
• Hertford County, Hertford
• Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood

We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients.  We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.

We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees.  This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.